Match Report: York City 2-2 Solihull Moors

York City claimed a well-earned point at home to Solihull Moors on Saturday afternoon, with Thierry Latty-Fairweather and Maziar Kouhyar on the scoresheet for the Minstermen.

Solihull got the game underway and looked to start brightly, aiming to retain their 2023/24 unbeaten record.

A chance evolved just a couple of minutes in, as a yellow shirt burst into the box, but an exceptional challenge by loanee Will Smith denied a decent opportunity, gaining the admiration of the applauding home crowd.

32-year-old Paddy McLaughlin was searching for an opener down the opposite end, driving forward from his midfield role and trying a shot which was well-diverted out for a corner by a visiting player.

Other than a couple of offsides given against captain Lenell John-Lewis, the Minstermen didn’t really create much more in the first half-hour.

Luckily for them, neither did the visiting Moors.

But as the clock hit 33, City’s star striker Dipo Akinyemi sprung into action inside the box, looking for his seventh goal of the season.

He got a decent low shot off, which deflected through a few bodies before forcing ‘keeper Tommy Simkin to turn away from the target.

That offered a boost for the hosts, who earned themselves a corner minutes later, and while the set piece wasn’t the greatest, failing to lift off the ground, it gave John-Lewis opportunity to shoot, but it looked to hit the head of the defender, rather than the hand, as appeals suggested.

Soon enough though, York had their goal, and manager Neal Ardley would probably have been disappointed if Thierry Latty-Fairweather hadn’t buried his chance on 43 minutes.

The initial opportunity saw the ball struck by a red shirt but the goalkeeper did well to deny it, and eventually, it came across to the unmarked left-back who made no mistake in sweeping it home into the bottom corner, sending City in with the advantage at the break.

However, they didn’t start the second half in the same style, falling victim to a Callum Maycock strike just a couple of minutes after returning.

Ex-Solihull captain Callum Howe swung a boot at it but it just wasn’t enough to prevent Maycock from hitting home from inside the box.

And not long after, a header from former loanee Mark Beck almost flipped the game on its head.

The 29-year-old forward leapt highest down at the byline to direct the ball in the way of Ryan Whitley’s goalframe, but Whitley was quick to parry out for a corner.

The Minstermen looked to respond to that equalizer ten minutes later, retaining the ball for a good amount of time before substitute Maz Kouhyar turned his man in the middle and played through Akinyemi, but the latter’s first touch meant he just overran it.

City’s main man would live to regret that, as Solihull took the lead on 67 minutes. A free kick found the first man Josh Kelly, who wasn’t challenged at all as he sent a smart looping header over the crowd and into the back of the net, to some displeasure from the home fans.

But they looked to fight back through Akinyemi, and on this occasion, his attempted curling cross-cum-shot was unluckily caught by an alert Simkin in the Moors goal.

John-Lewis was next to try his luck, watching the ball fall to him just outside the ‘D’, and taking the shot on first time, it was always rising, just over the bar.

Hard work and desire to get that levelling goal soon paid off, as Maz Kouhyar picked up the ball from a distance and coolly rolled the ball into the far corner through a sea of bodies, before wheeling away in celebration.

11 minutes remaining on the clock and the question that everyone was asking was can City hold on, and at the time, they had the momentum to go on and get the winner if anything.

Zanda Siziba tried to test the ‘keeper after coming on the bench, but his tame drive was never going to trouble Simkin, and that would be all for an afternoon where a point was a positive and well-earned one for York City.

York City: Whitley, Fallowfield, Cordner, McLaughlin, Dyson, Akinyemi, John-Lewis © (Marsh 81’), Howe, Woodyard (Kouhyar 56’), Latty-Fairweather (Siziba 86’), Smith.

Unused Subs: Watson, Kennedy.

Solihull Moors: Simkin, Clarke, Newton, Osbourne © (Labadie 50’), Morrison, Maycock, Beck, Kelly (Stevens 82’), Mafuta, Stearman, Craig.

Unused Subs: Brogan, Barratt, Riley.

Attendance: 3,940 (125 away)

Man of the Match: Olly Dyson