York City fight back for 2-2 draw with high-fliers Sutton United

John-Lewis was introduced as a second-half substitute and again stole the headlines, squeezing home from close-range after some persistence from Ollie Pearce.

York had initially taken the lead early in the second 45 through Marvin Armstrong, who raced onto Dipo Akinyemi’s pass to scramble the ball home.

But City suffered their usual former player curse, as Will Davies headed home just minutes later.

The hosts had led through Josh Coley, before a late resurrection rescued the draw.

It was almost the perfect start for the Minstermen as Joe Felix fizzed a ferocious strike narrowly wide of Steve Arnold’s goal, before Darragh O’Connor produced a brilliant block to deny Nana Boateng an opener for the hosts.

Sutton thought they were ahead as former York striker Davies beat Rory Watson to a loose ball in the area, but his cut back into Jayden Harris was somehow blasted into the side netting.

Akinyemi was back starting for City and almost marked his return with the opener, but sliced wide from a prominent position.

The second-half promised goals, with chances also falling to Sutton’s Ashley Nadesan, being denied from close-range by Watson, and John-Lewis, who headed over in the dying minutes.

Sutton are managed by former Millwall boss and promotion-winner Steve Morrison, who aided United’s fight to stay in Sky Bet League Two last season, only to fall short by three points, confirming their return to the fifth tier after three years in the EFL.

Both sides had began the National League season in a similar vein of form, having accumulated seven points from a possible nine from their opening three matches.

Sutton were fortunate to rescue a late point on matchday one, as Josh Coley bagged a stoppage-time equaliser in a 1-1 stalemate at Tamworth, who City had comfortably defeated 2-0 last Saturday.

The U’s then stormed to a statement 5-0 triumph over Altrincham on their home return to the National League, before a 1-0 win at Wealdstone in midweek.

City themselves had seen a similar path to this fixture, after a late Lenell John-Lewis header solidified a point on the opening day in a 1-1 draw at Southend United.

The rather enjoyable win over Tamworth followed, before an impressive defensive display aided the Minstermen to a 1-0 win against Rochdale in midweek.

Hinshelwood named a surprise five changes to the City side that secured back-to-back victories over both Tamworth and Rochdale in the last seven days, which included first starts for Darragh O’Connor and Ashley Nathaniel-George.

Watson, Armstrong and Akinyemi all also came into the starting eleven, with Harrison Male, Cameron John, Ricky Aguiar, Billy Chadwick, and Tyrese Sinclair all dropping to the substitutions bench.

Felix moved into left-back with Ryan Fallowfield being restored to the right-back position, whilst Ollie Pearce moved wide to accommodate the incoming Akinyemi.

Davies returned to face his former club for the first time since his departure in the Summer, having made 20 appearances for the Minstermen, managing five goals.

The hosts named three changes from the side that bested winless Wealdstone in midweek, with Ryan Jackson, Nana Boateng and former City frontman Davies replacing Ashley Nadesan, Harry Ransom and Josh Coley in a 4-3-3 formation.

LIVE BLOG: Sutton United vs York City

Hinshelwood’s side had began their midweek win over Rochdale in the perfect fashion – taking the lead after just four minutes.

It was almost déjà vu for York, as some clever link-up play between Alex Hunt and Fallowfield saw the latter’s cross cleared as far as Felix, whose fizzing effort drifted narrowly wide of the target.

Pearce and Felix soon saw efforts blocked through some resilient Sutton defending, but an end-to-end encounter allowed the hosts to break, with an unmarked Boateng seeing his goalbound strike kept out by the retreating O’Connor.

Marvin Armstrong gifts York City the lead. (Image: Tom Poole)

Sutton are one of the division’s highest scorers so far, having managed seven goals in their opening three matches.

But that wasn’t on evidence with a golden opportunity for the U’s, as Watson was beaten to a loose ball in his area by Davies, who squared for Harris, with the Fulham academy graduate somehow missing the target with the goal at his mercy.

York had a similar feeling as Fallowfield managed to beat Sutton’s offside trap and raced in behind, with his cross into Akinyemi being sliced away from goal by the talisman.

Felix was often seen inverting into more of a central midfield role whilst Fallowfield pushed down the right-wing, but still had his defensive duties on point after a crucial sliding challenge denied Harris from pulling the trigger in the area.

York ended the half frustrated by a Sutton side that had defended their final third well, with Callum Howe glancing a header wide of the target.

Hinshelwood’s side hadn’t managed a shot on target in the opening 45, and were often being beat by the high Sutton line and well-executed offside trap.

But City looked to have cracked the code early in the second-half, leading to their opener.

A long pass from O’Connor saw Akinyemi race in behind the Sutton defence and, bearing down on goal, the striker managed to squeeze a square ball into Armstrong, who slid home into the empty net.

The York lead would be short lived however, with Sutton finding an immediate leveller.

A clumsy foul from Nathaniel-George allowed Simper to curl a cross into Davies, who rose highest to punish the mistake of the foul and to equalise against his former employers.

Dan Batty looked to reinstate the Minstermen’s advantage, but was denied by Arnold from range, before Chadwick almost found himself one-on-one from a heavy Sinclair pass.

But with 73 minutes played, Sutton were back ahead.

The momentum was in the U’s favour and they took full advantage, as a recycled cross from the left found an unmarked Coley in the area, who expertly arrowed his header into the bottom corner.

Pearce had the ball in the back of the net, which was ruled out due to a foul on Arnold by John-Lewis, before Tyler French had a tame volley dealt with by Watson.

It was agonising for City with time running out, after some superb work from Felix saw the full-back drag the ball across the face of goal, with John-Lewis inches away from equalising.

But he quickly learned from his error, and soon had York back on level terms after some superb persistence from Pearce.

Pearce did brilliantly to rush into the box and round Arnold, before pulling the ball back from the byline into John-Lewis, who poked home at the front post.

York’s celebrations were cut short with a late wake-up call, as Watson was forced into a brilliant stop to palm an effort wide from close-range.

Ollie Pearce impressed and contributed another assist. (Image: Tom Poole)

Despite an end-to-end game which really could have fallen either way, it might be the Minstermen who will head home feeling the more unfortunate, after an agonising late miss from John-Lewis, who headed over from close-range.

SUTTON UNITED: ARNOLD, JACKSON, FRENCH, WALLER, MULLER, BARBROOK (WADHAM, 67), SIMPER, SIVI (NADESAN, 67), HARRIS, BOATENG (COLEY, 67), DAVIES

SUBS NOT USED: SIMS, RANSOM, ODELUSI, VAZ

GOALS: DAVIES (50), COLEY (72)

YORK CITY: WATSON 6, FALLOWFIELD 7, O’CONNOR 7 (JOHN 6, 61), HOWE 7, FELIX 7, BATTY 7, HUNT 6 (AGUIAR 6, 67), ARMSTRONG 8 (JOHN-LEWIS 7, 75), NATHANIEL-GEORGE 6 (SINCLAIR , 61), PEARCE 8, AKINYEMI 6 (CHADWICK 6, 61)

SUBS NOT USED: MALE, MCLAUGHLIN

GOALS: ARMSTRONG (48), JOHN-LEWIS (85)

YELLOW CARDS: Hunt (35)

YORK’S STAR MAN: OLLIE PEARCE. A tireless display from the striker who worked incredibly hard throughout and was all over the pitch at times for York. Another assist to add to his tally as well.

REFEREE: ELLIOT BELL

ATTENDANCE: 2624 (409)

SHOTS (ON TARGET): 2 (6) | 3 (3)

CORNERS:  8 | 4

OFFSIDES: 2 | 7

FOULS COMMITTED: 12 | 9