York City's unbeaten run comes to an end to hungry Hartlepool

Dieseruvwe put Hartlepool ahead in the second-half when latching onto a scuffed clearance from George Sykes-Kenworthy, with the Hartlepool striker taking full advantage to tap home from close-range.

With minutes remaining the striker doubled his advantage, coolly slotting a penalty home after Dieseruvwe had earned the foul himself.

Dipo Akinyemi did provide the sold-out York away end some hope with a late consolation effort, but it wouldn’t be enough to stretch City’s unbeaten run in the National League to nine.

Over 1000 York supporters made the trip to North-East after a midweek 2-1 victory over Oxford City, but were only able to witness Kevin Phillips celebrate his first win in charge since being appointed as Hartlepool manager last week.

Neal Ardley had insisted that the club wanted revenge after a disappointing 3-1 defeat to Hartlepool in November’s reverse fixture, and will have been frustrated that his City side couldn’t come away from form-stricken Hartlepool with anything to show for it.

Ardley opted to make just the one change from the City side that defeated Oxford City in midweek, with Michael Duckworth dropping to the bench in place of Tuesday night’s match-winnerWill Davies.

The change saw York switch to a four at the back formation with Adam Crookes shifting to left-back, whilst Thierry Latty-Fairweather remained absent from the squad, despite having travelled to the ground.

There was also no Cedric Main in the squad after the striker completed a permanent switch to Darlington in the Vanarama National League North for an undisclosed fee.

Hartlepool had overseen a very quick transition period under their new manager Phillips, with three new additions to the squad in the form of Luke Waterfall, Otis Khan and Courtney Senior.

Both Waterfall and Khan started for the hosts, with Senior beginning his Hartlepool career from the bench alongside former York promotion hero Pete Jameson.

Dieseruvwe also returned to the starting eleven for the Poolies having recovered from a knee injury, with the striker leading the way as the club’s top scorer with 15 goals so far this season.

Hartelpool’s injection of new players in the squad almost led to an early opener for the hosts, as Dieseruvwe seeing a chance smothered by George Sykes-Kenworthy before Khan couldn’t direct his strike past a crowd of bodies.

Paddy McLaughlin retained his place from the midweek victory and looked to add his second of the season with an effort from the edge of the box, that was denied by a Hartlepool body.

City had arguably their brightest opportunity of the half however just six minutes in, with Akinyemi and Burgess linking up before the latter delivered a teasing cross onto the head of an unmarked Davies in the box, who couldn’t hit the target from close-range.

Dieseruvwe saw a tame effort gratefully held by Sykes-Kenworthy before Tom Crawford drove into space and dragged a strike wide.

But York again came close to the opener with Billy Chadwick searching for his first for the club, only to be denied by a fingertips stop by Joel Dixon between the Hartlepool sticks.

Hartlepool ended the half with opportunities again for Dieseruvwe and for Anthony Mancini, but two harmless headers meant that the two sides entered the break level.

Heading into the second half, City looked to start on the front foot as Burgess nicked the ball back from a Hartlepool man and fed Akinyemi in a dangerous position, but the hosts defended strongly to deny an opener.

A Burgess cross following a corner then caused chaos in the Hartlepool box, with a goalmouth scramble seeing Davies, Chadwick and Alex Woodyard all have efforts blocked.

Akinyemi soon saw a header drop over the crossbar, before Callum Cooke did well to evade multiple City challenges before dragging an effort wide.

York’s leading goalscorer was again involved when shrugging off Manny Onariase’s shoulder barge, with Akinyemi striking wide from distance.

A Hartlepool counter-attack was put to an end by the retreating McLaughlin, but it wouldn’t be long before the hosts would find the breakthrough.

Luke Hendrie’s cross from the right-hand side was palmed into a dangerous area by Sykes-Kenworthy, allowing the lurking Dieseruvwe to latch onto the loose ball and gratefully tuck home from close-range, putting Hartlepool ahead.

Crookes drew a routine stop from Dixon as City looked for an avenue back into the match, before Hartlepool gave themselves some breathing room by adding a second from the spot.

A clumsy foul in the area on Dieseruvwe saw referee Lewis O’Connor point to the spot, with the striker taking his tally for the season to 15 with a coolly slotted penalty into the bottom right corner.

York did pull one way back and hand themselves a lifeline in stoppage time, after some pristine work from Akinyemi saw the striker create a yard of space for himself on the edge of the box, before beating Dixon via a deflection.

But Akinyemi’s late glimmer of hope for the Minstermen wouldn’t be enough to claim anything from the contest, with the points remaining in the North-East.

Hartlepool United: Dixon, Hendrie, Parkes, Waterfall, Ferguson (Onariase, 44), Featherstone, Cooke, Mancini (Grey, 77), Crawford, Dieseruvwe, Khan (Senior, 69)

Subs not used: Jameson, Duffus

Goals: Dieseruvwe (73, 88)

Yellow cards: Hendrie (26)

York City: Sykes-Kenworthy 6, Fallowfield 6, Howe 6, Smith 7, Crookes 6 (Barnes, 90+2), Burgess 6 (Kennedy 6, 76), McLaughlin 8, Woodyard 7, Chadwick 6, Davies 6 (John-Lewis 6, 76), Akinyemi 7

Subs not used: Duckworth, Cordner

Goal: Akinyemi (90+2)

Yellow cards: Howe (45), Woodyard (54), McLaughlin (85)

York’s star man: Paddy McLaughlin. A battling performance from the midfielder who worked his socks off today, and was involved in all of the gritty work in the middle.

Referee: Lewis O’Connor

Attendance: 5481 (1037)

Shots (on target): 5 (7) | 3 (6)

Corners:  5 | 5

Offsides: 0 | 3

Fouls committed: 7 | 10