York City boss hails goalkeeper Harrison Male after Ebbsfleet win

Striker Ollie Pearce bagged a brace and set up Tyrese Sinclair’s stunner before Leeds United loanee Luca Thomas added gloss to the scoreline in the sixth minute of added time as the Minstermen ran out 4-0 victors on their return to the LNER Community Stadium.

Ebbsfleet started the better of the sides and did have their chances in front of goal but could not take advantage of a bright spell during the early stages of the second half and were twice unable to convert past Male from close range.

And they were ultimately made to pay by three late City goals that put the points firmly out of their reach.

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Whilst Hinshelwood was pleased with his side’s attack and an encouraging debut from Thomas, he admitted that they must brush up on their defensive lapses, likely to be punished by leaders Barnet in their table-topping clash on Tuesday.

“We could win by four or five every week and I could still find something!” conceded the City boss.

“Ultimately, I think Harrison Male was the Man of the Match, we were 1-0 up and he’s called upon when we switch off.

“I know I sound like a horrible taskmaster, but they’re the little bits we’ve got to get right. We can’t switch off, we get the right side and then recover, we can’t recover on the wrong side because then we get punished, so we’ve got to learn from those.

“Other than that, and other than Harrison’s two massive one-on-one saves, I thought it was a really good performance.

“We were really nice and calm, and this is what can happen when you take the first goal, teams open up and there’s spaces.

“We could have made it even more, there were some good opportunities. Callum Harriott came in a couple of times and could have hit the target, but that’s how games can go, the difference today being that we got the first goal.”

Ollie Pearce, Tyrese Sinclair and debutant Luca Thomas were all on target for the Minstermen as they recorded their biggest win of the National League season. (Image: Tom Poole) Ebbsfleet came out brightly in a match that initially struggled to get going in the North Yorkshire sunshine.

City though were denied a penalty after Sinclair appeared to have been tripped inside the box by Fleet captain Josh Wright, and then were prevented from taking the lead by a stunning double save by Mark Cousins just after the half-hour.

However, the goalkeeper could not stop Pearce from breaking the deadlock four minutes before the break as he latched onto Ricky Aguiar’s through ball and finished into the bottom left corner.

Fleet again came out well in the second half, with York indebted to Male for a string of saves, notably from Kwame Thomas after a rapid counterattack that had left him one-on-one with the shot-stopper.

Sinclair though ultimately opened the floodgates in the 73rd minute, finishing sweetly on the volley from Pearce’s right-wing cross.

Leeds United loanee Thomas was handed his debut from the bench in the aftermath and it didn’t take long for him to register his first goal involvement, his low shot stinging the palms of Cousins before falling kindly for Pearce to emphatically finish.

The young striker then added his name to the scoresheet deep into added time, timing his run onto Alex Hunt’s through ball to perfection before keeping his composure to slot the ball home.

“There were some unbelievable one-on-one’s but we’re not always going to be relying on Harrison and Rory [Watson] to get us out of trouble,” Hinshelwood said of his side’s defence.

“It’s more a case of us switching off at times at the back. We have switched off today, and we’ve got to learn these lessons quickly.

“I don’t want to take anything away because people watch it and it’s 4-0, it’s relatively comfortable, and we’ve been asking more from the forward players to score goals.

“I don’t want to take the limelight off them because some of the finishing was ruthless – Luca’s one in particular. He’s pulled off the shoulder and finished it emphatically, it was a really good debut for him.

“There was lots to be pleased with, but at the same time, I’m going to keep on demanding more and upping the standards.”