21st January 2004
North Riding Senior Cup 2nd Round

Attendance - 179

Team - D Campbell, Obern, Craddock, Reed, Hall, Dixon, Gildea, Robinson(Swales 75), Ormerod(Nicholson 21), Appleby, Veart(McTiernan 63). Subs not used: Clementson, Williams.

Report - by Andrew Snaith - 18 year old Turkish striker Levent Yalcin and ex-Blue Aron Wilford helped York City brush aside error-strewn Whitby out of the North Riding Senior Cup at Bootham Crescent on Wednesday night. Yalcin twice, Wilford and Christian Fox profited from the Seasiders' generous defending.
Harry Dunn gave competitive debuts to defender Darren Craddock and striker Andy Appleby- both teenagers on work experience from Third Division Hartlepool United.
Whitby came close to breaking the deadlock on six minutes when Robinson and Gildea combined to play in Anthony Ormerod, whose angled drive was deflected across City's six yard box and out of play for a Whitby corner. City cleared the resulting kick and play swung to the other end in a heartbeat. Brackstone and Arthurs were clinical as they set up Fox to steer home imperiously from the edge of the box for the opening goal.
Things went from bad to worse for Whitby after that, and they gift-wrapped City a second goal, when keeper Dave Campbell miscontrolled Tony Hall's pass allowing Yalcin to intercept and slot into the empty net from close range.
Worse was to follow when Ormerod had to be replaced after just 20 minutes- the versatile Scott Nicholson slotting in up front.
The half hour mark saw City effectively end the match as a contest when Craddock's clearence was charged down by Yalcin, who preceded to hammer home an unstoppable low drive from the edge of the Whitby box for 3-0.
Veart and Robinson then missed half chances for the Unibond side, while Wilford should have added a fourth for City from a close range header.
The second half saw Whitby push forward with Gildea at the heart of every move. Two missed opportunities for the hard working midfielder and a neat through ball for Appleby culminated in the youngster kicking thin air on the edge of the City box.
Then, in an isolated attack, awful marking allowed Wilford all the time in the world to pick his spot and fire past Campbell from close range.
The introduction of pacy Dave McTiernan for the last half hour opened things up for Harry Dunn's side and Appleby, Gildea, Craddock and Nicholson twice came close but it wasn't to be Whitby's day. City's professionals were just that as they eased past the sorry Seasiders.
Very disappointing for the sizable Whitby contingent who outnumbered their Third Division counterparts at least in the crowd.