SOBS V YORK

Alreet, marra - here we go, then. The start of another campaign that we all hope will be a continuation of the last one. Precious little in the way of additions to the squad, and the one we did get (in our usual quick and quiet fashion) is still on World Cup holiday.

World Cup? The less said the better. 

The squad, never mind the starting eleven, is a bit of a mystery given that there are so many absentees, but presumably those fans who were quick to call Xhaka "Judas" as soon as the rumours started won't be there, as he can't be booed at. Wait until the player, or our club, says something before condemnation next time, please. Anyway, it'll be a chance to see some of the young guns like Geragusian and Ta Bi.

An awayday that can be done without leaving the house until half one? Magic, although I went a few hours earlier because - you know it makes sense. I'd missed the original ticket sale 'cos I'm not yet in football mode, so Davey's York based nephew had indirectly sorted posh seats - only for another 900 or so tickets to become available. Typical.

York was awash with pink Elvis shirts, and when you add to them the stripes and the Rowell Blue, you had to hope the LNER Stadium had been extended.

With all the buses out that way being full, Con got us an eventual Uber and I was in the posh LNER lounge to meet the Aytons with twenty to spare, having just missed Marco's speech.

Sat almost exactly on the halfway line, I watched us line up in pink...

Ellborg

Hume Mukiele O'Nien Reinildo 

Ta Bi Browne Le Fee Tutierov

Ogunsuyi

... and a bench so long you'll have to wait until halftime to see.

We headed left from where I was sat (did I say I was in the posh seats?) with our lot filling the stands to my right and opposite... and bits of the south end... and bits around me. Officially over 3,000 of a 7,000+ crowd.

A basic summary is that Tutierov was impressive down the left side and linked very well with Enzo, who took a pass from Ta Bi on the edge of the box and stroked it home our first one on about six minutes before a deliciously cheeky lob over the defence by TT allowed Enzo to lob the keeper only to be called offside. It could have been his hat trick, as he'd fired a yard wide before scoring. 

Ogunsuyi was the focal point of our attacks, and had obviously been watching Brobbey -socks down, backside out, battling the defender - but was well marshalled, while most of our danger was created on our left. However, when Rigg collected the ball in the inside right spot, he danced about the edge of the box to work space before rolling it into the net with his left foot with the keeper, for some reason, stood at the other side of the goal. 2-0, and to be honest, it was getting to be a bit of a stroll.

York were missing their star man, whose name I forget, but showed enough to make me think they'll be OK after their promotion League Two. On the other hand, we were controlling things quite nicely and Ellborg, in his Monty disguise (plus big orange gloves) was giving waves to our fans when asked. It was no surprise when Tutierov stepped inside from the left with ten to go to the break and let fly with a beaut that curled inside the far post.

Five minutes or so later, another good run by TT ended with a cutback that Enzo clipped home from near the spot and it was 4-0. Happy for that lead at the break?

Of course.

As is usual for these games, we made eleven changes, with Moore (Monty disguise with white gloves), Seelt, Hjelde, Dinsdale, Whittaker, Alese (welcome back), Geragusian, Jenson Jones, Scott, Jaydon Jones, and Proctor coming on. Just to keep us watchers on our toes, like.

Of course that changed the flow of the game, but we still looked in control of things despite York pulling one back following a corner. We didn't let that slight knock-back hurt us, as Dinsdale basically took over the Tutierov role to turn his full back inside out before knocking it into the path of Proctor, who headed it home from a few yards to restore our four goal advantage.York had made their ten subs in the hour to confuse us, but we could see through that trickery. 

We lost Hjelde to what looked like a knee injury, replaced by Kindon, then the ref subbed himself as our defender had his nose put back together after stopping a fierce free kick. 

For the remainder of the game, we passed it about nicely and were deserving of the win. 

Man of the Match? Tutierov.

Lessons learned? York public transport is woefully overcrowded and York taxis woefully late.

Happy with the day performance? Yes, although I thought we might see Ballard and Mundle.