York City continued their fine form of late with an unexpected 3-1 win away at promotion hopefuls Chesterfield.
York City continued their fine form of late with an unexpected 3-1 win away at promotion hopefuls Chesterfield.
The task for the Minstermen was made a lot more difficult by conceding only nineteen minutes in through a sweet strike into the top corner from Liam Mandeville.
But they didn't back down, eventually finding a deserved leveler shortly before the break - Olly Dyson was the man who got on the scoresheet, volleying home beyond the 'keeper.
Seven minutes after returning from the interval, Spireites stopper Ross Fitzsimons made a big mistake that could potentially have cost his side any points - eagerly racing out of his area to clear, he only managed to get it as far as Michael Duckworth, who, on his first touch, chose to fire one low and into the back of the net from inside his own half.
Paddy McLaughlin capped off a stellar show within the final twenty minutes, placing into the bottom corner following a half-cleared set piece.
Despite watching his team fire blanks against Maidenhead last week, Chesterfield manager Paul Cook chose to stay with the same team for yet another game
That was while York City boss Michael Morton also opted to stay with an unchanged eleven which came as no surprise following an impressive 1-0 win over Barnet.
It was the hosts who started the better of the two sides, but City goalkeeper Ryan Whitley didn't have too much to do, cutting out a couple of early attacks before Jeff King tried a low ball across from the left only to see his shot deflected into the side-netting with the resulting corner headed well over the bar.
And the Spireites continued to turn up the heat on their bottom-half opponents which eventually paid off nineteen minutes in as the ball dropped to Liam Mandeville inside the box, and the forward was keen to show off his quality, bending it into the top corner to give Chesterfield an early lead.
To concede so early against such a quality side was like an arrow to the hearts of the City eleven and their short-lived unbeaten spell, however, they began to grow into the game as the half went on, and the visitors' first attempt came through homegrown Michael Duckworth with a shot that was never going to hit the target.
The hosting playoff contenders started to fall asleep about ten minutes after the opener as Olly Dyson was allowed room to manoeuvre forward and unleash a rising rocket from range, denied only by the crossbar.
Moments after came another close scare for Chesterfield with the young but prolific striker, Shaqai Forde receiving the ball in a brilliant scoring position to the right of goal and unable to compose himself, blasting high and wide.
Mandeville looked to punish the Minstermen for failing to take their chances soon after, though his time it wasn't to be for him, his tame driven effort an easy claim for Whitley.
Seeking to launch the ball upfield quickly, he did just so, and within a minute of Mandeville's chance, City found themselves in a decent situation thanks to a mistake from Blues 'keeper Ross Fitzsimons, gifting Lenell John-Lewis an opportunity from range but the York skipper agonizingly lifted his shot narrowly wide.
Back down at the other end where Chesterfield were struggling to capitalize, they could have done better with a chance that saw new man Ryan Colclough shoot into the away end.
Even though they were trailing, the travelling contingent of over 1,000 continued to sing and make the most of their bank holiday, and after so much patience, they watched their team strike back four minutes before the break.
A free kick launched forward was cleverly headed back by Mitch Hancox into the path of England C international Dyson, who used skill to flick the ball up before unleashing a rocket beyond Fitzsimons from the edge of the area.
That would ultimately be a huge turning point in the match and saw the teams level heading into half-time, York with the momentum.
And they sure did make that momentum count scarcely seven minutes after getting back underway - when Spireites stopper Fitzsimons was on the ball, you could always sense some nerves around the ground, and his weakness was quickly exploited.
He rushed far off his line to cut out an attack, but only as far as City right-back Duckworth, who produced a sublime first-time finish from 40 yards out, fizzing it into an empty net; his celebratory backflip was greeted by excitement among the Minstermen faithful.
Chesterfield hadn't conceded in 407 minutes of football coming into this game, so by the 55th minute, they will have been more than disappointed to ship two to a side fighting relegation.
That's when a brief onslaught materialized for the hosts, but opposing centre-half Mark Ellis was solid as a rock in preventing them from any sniff of goal. The closest they did come during a short spell of danger was a Ryan Colcough shot which drifted just past Whitley's left post.
But it is all about taking your chances when they come, and they were later made to face the consequences when York added a third, seventeen minutes from time.
A corner swung in from the left was only half-cleared by the hosts and with the ball falling to Paddy McLaughlin on the edge, he teed himself up with a good first touch before perfectly picking out the bottom corner on his second to give Morton's side a two-goal cushion.
Goals elsewhere meant Woking had extended the gap to third place, and a route back into the match was looking highly unlikely for promotion hopefuls Chesterfield, who would slip further away from their target with a defeat.
Despite the huge pressure on them, the Spireites still didn't show much sign of improvement and gave the City 'keeper a rare test in added time - he was equal to a low shot from Colclough turning round the post to help York to an unlikely but important three points in terms of National League survival.
They now move nine points clear of the drop ahead of Easter Monday's Yorkshire Derby against Halifax while Chesterfield travel to Dagenham looking for an immediate response.
Chesterfield: Fitzsimons, Palmer (Uchegbulam 89’), King, Grimes, Maguire, Jones, Banks, Mandeville, Dallas (Asante 70’) Colclough, McCallum (Quigley 70’)
Unused subs: Horton, Oldaker
Goals: Mandeville (19’)
Yellow Cards: Maguire (89’), Jones (90+2’), Grimes (90+4’), Colclough (90+4’)
York City: Whitley, Crookes, Whittle, Ellis, Duckworth, McLaughlin, Dyson, Hurst, Hancox (Mafuta 79’), Forde (Kouhyar 89’), John-Lewis (Duku 64’)
Unused subs: Campbell, Kouogun
Goals: Dyson (42’), Duckworth (52’), McLaughlin (73’)
Yellow Cards: Hancox (50’), Ellis (90+4’)
Referee: Michael Barlow
Attendance: 8,638 (1,105 York)