For March 18th I'm going back 4 years to 2017 and York City's FA Trophy Semi-Final 2nd Leg against Lincoln City at Sincil Bank, Lincoln.
This was a truly memorable season for Lincoln. Under the management of the Cowley Brothers, Danny and Nicky, this was the season where they became Conference (National League) Champions and had an almost unprecedented run to the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup (the first non-league team to do so since 1914). In Lincoln's list of priorities, the FA Trophy was surely third but, despite the increasing toll of fixtures, they made headway in this competition too and, having finally succumbed 5-0 to Arsenal in the FA Cup Quarter-Final the previous Saturday, they had the little matter of overcoming a 2-1 deficit from the 1st Leg against York to secure their passage to Wembley.
This was also a memorable season for York. But for all the wrong reasons. Their disastrous slide out of the Football League under Jackie McNamara had shown no sign of abating and, to the mystification of practically everyone except for City's Chairman Jason McGill, McNamara was rewarded for his failure with a move upstairs to the Chief Executive position which paved the way for the return of former manager Gary Mills whose mission was to try to save the Club from a second successive relegation.
I think that I'm in a minority of York fans when it comes to the FA Trophy. For the majority, the Trophy is regarded as "Tinpot" and entry into the competition itself is a sign of failure for an ex-league club. I don't see it that way myself and, thankfully and more importantly, nor does Gary Mills. In my view, the Trophy is City's only chance of winning a National Cup competition and there have been precious few honours down the decades so you shouldn't turn your nose up at such an opportunity. However York went into this cup-tie against the backdrop of a desperate position in the league, 5 points adrift of safety and with only 10 games left to save themselves. Did they need the distraction of two additional cup games? Well probably not! I think, despite my sentiments regarding the joys of FA Trophy success, that if I could have traded that Semi-Final for guaranteed safety in the league, I would have done so. Sadly football doesn't work like that however.
Given the form of the two sides Lincoln were expected to overcome York but the game was much tighter than many in the crowd of 8,409 had anticipated. Goalless at halftime, York retained their 2-1 aggregate lead until the 65th minute when Sean Raggett put Lincoln one up and the aggregate score level at two apiece. The game went into extra time and, against all the odds, York got a penalty just before halftime of extra time which was expertly tucked away by Scott Fenwick. And then York held on and on and on! After what seemed like several hours, the referee finally blew his whistle and, remarkably, York were on their way to Wembley again. A little bit of joy amongst numerous disappointments that season.
CRB Match No. 2145
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