(Photo Creds: Tom Poole)
The extended title race between the Minstermen and Rochdale went down to the wire. It ended with football at its dramatic best.
I like to put the score at the top of the page whenever I write a match report. But this showdown between Rochdale and York City, two teams that have tussled for the title throughout the season, was so, so much more than this one game.
The title race in the National League has been full of dramatic scenes, late goals and nervousness. The arithmetic was simple going into this one final fixture. Were the Minstermen to drop points, they would lose their one hand on the trophy: the winner takes it all. Particularly because, as we covered in our last print, only the champions would go up automatically.
In fact, York almost won the title last week in front of a home crowd – had Braintree drawn with Rochdale in Essex, the 30 goals required in the following game would have been a tall order even if the Dale were to loan Erling Haaland for a match. But the footballing gods could never have allowed this thrilling season-long title chase to end with a goal from an already-relegated team. That, of course, would have been far too much of an anti-climax.
So, instead, the Minstermen get a first-versus-second battle at Spotland in Greater Manchester. Coming back from the fixture against Yeovil last week, the select few who somehow managed to grab a ticket across the Pennines knew they were in for a treat (and a few impressed ‘oohs’ from other fans).
The whole season would be decided by one game between the two teams that could take it all. The winner takes the trophy. The loser faces the play-offs, and the rather unattractive prospect of losing the other promotion spot to a team that scored 25 goals fewer. We’ve been there before. We could really do without that again.
Having watched the Minstermen a few times by now for York Vision, manager Stuart Maynard’s voice can certainly travel, and it never fails to entertain. I had considered booking a hearing test for my right ear lately: sitting to his left at the last game was enough to suggest it was in perfect working order.
The first half was cagey, with few chances for either side. To discuss it in outsized detail, though, would be a disservice to the drama that followed.
York came out on top in the second half. On the radio, you could hear the familiar York chants: the Minstermen were in the driver’s seat, almost as though they had started with a 1:0 lead.
Three minutes after the two teams get back underway, York’s Hiram Boateng sends Josh Stones on goal. But he could only send the ball straight through to Rochdale goalkeeper Oliver Whatmuff. Still 0:0.
Chances come sparingly. Then, in the 81st minute, Ollie Pearce passes to Josh Stones, surely he can see the goal? Not quite, his shot is deflected and Whatmuff puts a brilliant stop. The resulting corner comes in. Whatmuff just gets a hand on it. Some of York’s players think he’s dragged it over the line. The linesman doesn’t think so. Still 0:0. Still a chance for Rochdale to snatch it at the death.
Then, Stones is fed the ball on the right wing in the 90th minute. He puts it across the pitch to Ollie Grey. The goal is right there! You’ve got it! He puts it straight at the goalkeeper! The fourth official flashes up six minutes of stoppage time. York are six minutes from the National League title.
In the 95th minute, Whatmuff kicks the ball upfield. Rochdale have been late-goal specialists this season, and, as manager Stuart Maynard told York Vision last week, it’s not over until it’s over. With 94:57 on the clock, Emmanuel Dieseruwe heads it in past Minstermen goalkeeper Harrison Male to crush the dreams of York fans. He and his players wheel away in celebration as their fans stream onto the pitch.
It would take a while to clear them off, so much so that those six minutes would soon become as irrelevant as a timeframe that I would tell my mother I would be ready for school by. With 102:03 on the clock and two more minutes to play, we were finally ready to get back underway.
In that time, you sometimes don’t know whether to draft an email to York’s press officer asking for play-off tickets. I really could do without having to go through play-offs again. But this time felt different. An equaliser at the death? Stranger things have happened.
A long throw-in, with all of York in attack, comes to Ollie Grey’s feet. He dribbles the ball around the six-yard box to Josh Stones. His cross from the right is blocked. York’s Ryan Fallowfield crosses over to the other side of the six-yard box. Alex Hunt takes it and heads it goalward, to be blocked by Whatmuff. It comes out to Josh Stones! He taps it in – it looks like it might be a last-gasp goal line clearance! But the linesman doesn’t think so! It’s a goal!
102:20 on the clock! York’s players run to celebrate with the 1,500-strong away support! Pandemonium! A winner with the very last kick of the game. Any Rochdale resistance when both teams got back underway was futile. The referee blows for full time, and York have swiped the trophy out of Rochdale’s hands right at the death. Could you possibly ask for more from a football match?
The highlights have already racked up over 911,000 views since broadcaster DAZN put them on YouTube. Stuart Maynard said to the broadcaster after the game that he hopes Rochdale will go up via the play-offs. That would be fair – both teams said before the game that they would support the 3UP campaign for the National League to get an extra promotion place, regardless of who goes up this season.
The fixture list promised a high-stakes showdown between first and second place, billed as the most important game in National League history. It delivered – we got a metaphor for the title chase as a whole: York led Rochdale throughout the season, apart from a slight blip towards the end, then the Minstermen regained control with only a few games to go.
The drama that came out of it was something that only football at its best can provide. For the first time in ten years, York are back in the Football League.