Photo gallery: Five goals, a red card and plenty of drama as Boro’s poor home form continues
Stevenage lost for the fourth successive match on home soil as visitors York City grabbed their first league win of the season.
From Boro’s point of view it was both an exciting match and a woeful one in equal measure, as they went two goals down in the first 15 minutes and then saw Andy Bond sent off before fighting back to 2-2 only to concede a late penalty which saw Wes Fletcher score the winner for York.
The visitors, who had drawn all five of their previous league matches this season, set about Stevenage in determined fashion in the opening stages and they were helped by the hosts’ sloppy play when in possession.
The game’s first goal came when Darius Charles brought down Michael Coulson 25 yards from goal, and the City player dusted himself down before he curled his free-kick around the outside of the Boro wall and inside the far post with Sam Beasant too late reacting to keep it out.
Stevenage contributed to their downfall in the first half as on two occasions they gave the ball away too easily and twice the visitors had a shot on goal.
The first was an Anthony Straker effort that was blocked by Charles, but the second saw Simon Walton lose possession in midfield with Fletcher, in space with Jerome Okimo caught out of position, taking advantage by passing his shot past Beasant.
Things then got worse – a lot worse. With 31 minutes on the clock and with Fletcher collecting a ball in midfield, Andy Bond, captain for the day, flew in with a late challenge and was subsequently shown a red card leaving Boro all at sea.
With an extra man, York controlled the game for much of the remainder of the first half and it took until the 52nd minute for Boro to produce a shot of note, Tom Pett, increasingly taking charge of the game, stepping to his right in the box and curling his shot just past the far post.
Stevenage pulled a goal back just moments later when a Walton free-kick was flicked on in the box by Charlie Lee and Chris Whelpale nodded home from a couple of yards.
And then the unthinkable happened when, with 25 minutes to go, Henry’s cross in from the right was flicked on by a defender to Pett who controlled it with his chest before hitting a wonderful volley past Michael Ingham for the equaliser.
The momentum was with Stevenage, but after a dazzling second half Pett then brought down the tricky Marvin McCoy and the visitors were handed a penalty which Fletcher put away for 3-2 to guarantee his side all three points.
Stevenage: Beasant, Okimo (Dembele 46), Henry, Ashton (Zola 84), Charles, Pett, Whelpdale, Walton, Bond, Lee, Lancaster (Marriott 60). Subs: Day, Calcutt, Deacon.
York City: Ingham, McCoy, Ilesanmi, McCombe, Coulson, Summerfield, Fletcher, Penn, Straker (Hyde 72), Lowe, Meikle (Jarvis 88A). Subs: Mooney, Parslow, Montrose, Winfield, Hirst.
Ref: Lee Collins
Att: 3090
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