Report

F1 exited the York FA Cup at the 3rd round stage this afternoon despite a gutsy performance at runaway League 2 leaders Aviva.

Shorn of a couple players due to injury, F1 still gave the hosts a good run for their money and matched Aviva for much of the 1st half despite neither side creating any real clear cut opportunities.

The 2nd half saw Aviva step up a gear or two though and put F1 under substantial pressure for long periods. The F1 goal was leading a bit of a charmed life and we were indebted to resoloute defending plus a series of great stops from MOTM Dan Huggins in nets.

Against the odds though F1 took a shock lead when a goal kick frm Huggins was headed on by Neil Yeowart to George Trifan, the Count held the ball then gave back to Yeowart who played in Dave Wright at the edge of the area to hit a great shot bending away from the goalkeeper and in. This was the first goal conceded by Aviva for 6 games and F1 were in line to produce the shock of the round.

Alas, it wasn't to be as the substitute for Aviva cut inside and fired low into the corner of the net to level the scores with 10 minutes left. A controversial moment with just 2 minutes left of normal time happened when Yeowart went to chase a back header from the Aviva defender but had his ankle stepped on to ensure he didn't get to it. Despite the striker losing his boot in the tackle the referee deemed no contact had been made and, what should have been a massive game changing moment, passed by with no recriminations. 

Insult was added to injury when Aviva won the game in the 90th minute. A free kick swung into the box was met powerfully by a defender who had come up for the set piece to break F1 hearts right at the last.