York City fightback for 1-1 draw at Woking in late kick-off

York were forced to battle for a late draw in Surrey after Dan Moss had put the hosts ahead, powering a header past Harrison Male from a teasing cross.

With time running out for the Minstermen, Adam Hinshelwood’s side were granted a lifeline as a handball earned York a penalty with ten minutes left on the clock.

John-Lewis took the responsibility, and slid a low effort past the Cardinals’ shot-stopper for a 1-1 draw.

Hinshelwood’s City have dropped to third in the Vanarama National League table as a result, with the unbeaten run stretching to eight.

With City’s trip down into Surrey being selected by DAZN for enhanced production, the match was moved to a later kick-off of 5.30pm.

Hinshelwood had admitted to the Press pre-match that he was unaffected by the added pressure of having his side televised for the second time this season, after the opening day draw at Southend United had been shown by DAZN too.

Woking headed into the clash in 15th position after 12 matches, having struggled for form in recent weeks and being winless in their last five.

The Cardinalds’ last win came just under a month ago against Wealdstone, but defeats to Oldham Athletic, Sutton United and Brighton & Hove Albion under-21’s in the National League Cup, as well as draws with AFC Fylde and Eastleigh have seen Woking undergo a period of inconsistency under Michael Doyle.

The 3pm kick-off meant that York had dropped to fourth pre-match after victories for Gateshead, Forest Green Rovers and Barnet.

Hinshelwood had named four changes to the side that were frustrated to a 0-0 draw with Eastleigh last Saturday, which included a first start of the season for Callum Harriott.

Dan Batty also returned to the eleven for the first time since suffering a back spasm injury, along with Alex Hunt and Ricky Aguiar.

His inclusion saw Joe Felix return to the left-back position, whilst Cameron John, Marvin Armstrong, Billy Chadwick and Tyrese Sinclair all dropped to the bench.

Ashley Nathaniel-George, George Sykes-Kenworthy, Adam Crookes and Levi Andoh all missed out through injury.

Woking followed suit and elected to make four changes for their late kick-off, bringing in Adam Chicksen for his debut after signing earlier in the day.

Dion Kelly-Evans, Raheem Conte and Harry Beautyman all also came in, whilst Max Dyche, Charley Kendall, Dale Gorman and Jermaine Anderson dropped out.

The hosts lined up in a 5-4-1 formation, hopeful of a first win in five.

There were nerves early on for Woking, with City enjoying some pressure in the opening stages.

Joe Felix was involved from the off, with his low cross into the area being met by Ollie Pearce.

York City and Woking battled out a 1-1 draw in front of the TV cameras. (Image: Tom Poole) His strike towards goal was bravely blocked out for a corner in the opening minute, with Callum Howe being unable to reach a deep cross from Batty.

Harriott was hoping to influence play on a first start since December 2023 after cutting inside of Chicksen, but his tame effort was calmly held by Will Jaaskelainen.

Chicksen soon had a long-ranged effort smothered by Harrison Male, before Lewis Walker headed wide of the target.

Both sides would feel hard done by the referee after waving away potential penalties, with Felix and Raheem Conte both going down under challenges inside the opposition area.

City were within inches of an opener after a fantastic pass from Felix allowed Harriott to slide a teasing ball across the face of goal.

With Pearce lurking and the goal at his mercy, a sublime challenge from Ben Wynter turned the loose ball around the post.

The Minstermen were again denied at close-range after a nice move involving Pearce and Aguiar saw the latter race through one-on-one with Jaaskelainen, who produced a brilliant low save to push his effort wide.

York will have headed into the half-time break frustrated to again not be in front, with Woking perhaps fortunate to be level for the second-half.

But despite their arguable fortune to be even at half-time, it was the hosts who drew blood first.

A pinpoint delivery from the right by Conte was met by an onrushing Moss, unmarked at the back post, whose powerful header beat Male to put the Cardinals in front.

York City celebrate their late equaliser at Woking. (Image: Tom Poole) City nearly responded as Felix had a venomous strike parried away by Jaaskelainen, before substitute John-Lewis headed a cross wide of the target.

Armstrong and Sinclair were also brought into the action to try and salvage something from the match, and were both involved as the latter sliced Armstrong’s pass wide of the target.

With ten minutes remaining and hope starting to dwindle for those travelling supporters, a Batty corner appeared to be handled by a Woking man in the area, forcing the referee to award the visitors a penaly.

Up stepped John-Lewis, who took his tally for the season to five with a composed finish into the bottom left corner.

A valuable point on the road for York who conceded a first goal in over 500 minutes of football, with City dropping to third position in the National League.

WOKING: JAASKELAINEN, KELLY-EVANS, MOSS, HARRIES, WYNTER, CHICKSEN, AKINOLA, ANDREWS, CONTE (LEWIS, 70), BEAUTYMAN (WARD, 89), WALKER (KENDALL, 70)

SUBS NOT USED: WEBBER, ANDERSON, LEAHY, GORMAN

GOAL: MOSS (55)

YELLOW CARDS: AKINOLA (36), WALKER (40), DOYLE (84)

YORK CITY: MALE 6, FALLOWFIELD 5 (JOHN, 68), FAGAN-WALCOTT 6, HOWE 7, FELIX 7, BATTY 7, HUNT 6 (JOHN-LEWIS 7, 68), AGUIAR 5 (ARMSTRONG 6, 59), HARRIOTT 6 (SINCLAIR 5, 59), PEARCE 6 (FADERA, 90), AKINYEMI 6

SUBS NOT USED: WATSON, CHADWICK

GOALS: JOHN-LEWIS (82)

YELLOW CARDS: PEARCE (88)

YORK’S STAR MAN: DAN BATTY. A brilliant return to the squad, with the York midfielder controlling play from deep.

SHOTS (ON TARGET): 4 (2) | 3 (7)

CORNERS:  2 | 7

OFFSIDES: 1 | 0

FOULS COMMITTED: 9 | 9