Ollie Pearce bags first as York City defeat Whitby Town

Second-half strikes from Ollie Pearce and Marvin Armstrong saw York overturn Whitby’s lead from the first-half, after Jake Charles had put the hosts ahead.

A midweek trip to the seaside saw Adam Hinshelwood’s side field three academy players in the starting 11, which saw a complete overhaul from the 60th minute onwards.

Leon Gibson-Booth, Bill Marshall and Mackenzie Crooks all started for the Minstermen, as well as trialist Max McMillan, who has since been identified by Hinshelwood.

Pearce led the line with Lenell John-Lewis, whilst Paddy McLaughlin was also granted his first start in pre-season.

Former City winger Nathan Thomas, who featured for York in the 2022/23 campaign, started the action for Whitby after curling a strike narrowly wide of Harrison Male’s goal.

Thomas was again causing issues down the right-hand side, seeing a teasing cross miss a connection from Charles, before Male comfortably held a tame strike from the Whitby winger.

McMillan, the trialist, looked to concern the hosts defence as his low cross was almost met by Pearce, but was thwarted by some strong defending.

Stephen Walker produced a nice bit of trickery to evade the challenge of Callum Howe and Gibson-Booth before finding himself in behind, only to again be denied by Male.

But with just over half-an-hour played, it was the Seasiders who took the lead.

A dominant spell for Whitby saw Thomas thread a through ball past the City defence and into the path of Charles, with the former Scarborough Athletic attacker showing composure to tuck an effort past Male, despite the shot-stopper getting a touch onto it.

A final opportunity of the half fell to Pearce, whose first-time volley evaded the Whitby goal.

Heading into the second-half, Hinshelwood introduced Dipo Akinyemi, Ricky Aguiar and Adam Crookes, who would all make immediate impacts.

York showed their quality early in the second 45 with Akinyemi bullying his way through the Whitby defence, before squaring an inch-perfect pass into the path of Pearce, with the City striker bagging his first non-competitive goal at the Towbar Express Stadium.

With the Minstermen now on level terms, Shane Bland was tested during his testimonial by a McMillan shot that was calmly kept out.

Ollie Pearce netted his first in York City colours. Picture: Tom Poole (Image: Tom Poole)

Akinyemi was proving a real problem for the hosts defence, after meeting a Crookes pass and skipping past two Whitby men before his strike was blocked by a third.

Aaron Haswell scuffed a strike wide from a Whitby corner, before a near post effort from Akinyemi was again parried away by Bland.

Tyrese Sinclair would be unfortunate not to find his way onto the scoresheet, but was causing issues for Whitby after winning a free-kick in a dangerous area.

Akinyemi would step up and forced a sublime save from Bland.

Billy Chadwick continued to mount the pressure on the Whitby backline with a teasing pass into Sinclair, whose off-balance strike evaded the target.

But with City now well in control and on the frontfoot, it was only a matter of time until Hinshelwood’s side would take the lead.

A well-timed Chadwick cross saw the winger switch a pass into the area, with Armstrong turning his marker and arrowing an effort into the bottom right corner, beating Bland.

Dan Batty was hopeful of adding a third, but could scuff a strike into a crowd of bodies, before Sinclair powered the rebound wide of goal.

Sinclair again posed a real threat and was denied after expertly maintaining possession on the counter-attack, before Bland produced another impressive stop with his knees.

An Akinyemi effort would soon be parried by Bland into the path of an unmarked Sinclair in the area, but his rebound was bravely blocked by the onrushing Whitby backline.

Bland and Sinclair would test one another one final time on the evening with a routine stop from the Whitby shot-stopper on his testimonial, before the referee would call time on a battling affair at the seaside.

York are back in action on Saturday with a return to the LNER Community Stadium, with Sky Bet League Two side Grimsby Town the visitors (3pm).

YORK CITY: Male 7 (Watson 6, 60), Marshall 8 (Felix 7, 60), Howe 6 (Fallowfield 6, 60), Gibson-Booth 7 (O’Connor 6, 60), Crooks 6 (Crookes 7, 45), McLaughlin 6 (Aguiar 7, 45), Hunt 7 (Armstrong 8, 60), Trialist A 7 (Batty 7, 60), Nathaniel-George 6 (Chadwick 8, 60), John-Lewis 6 (Akinyemi 8, 45), Pearce 8 (Sinclair 7, 60)

Subs not used: Tate

Goals: Pearce (48), Armstrong (70)

WHITBY TOWN: Bland (Cranston, 87), Smith, Liddle, Sukar, Haswell, Whelan (Fergus, 67), Doherty, Griffiths, Thomas, Charles, Walker (Parkinson, 81)

Subs not used: Medcalf, Trialist

Goals: Charles (34)

Attendance: N/A

Shots off (on) target: 0 (4) | 5 (6)

Fouls: 9 | 10

Offsides 0 | 3

Corners: 9 | 2