Macclesfield Town 2 York City 3

Match 140/16/1447 - Sunday, 21st May 2017 - FA Trophy Final

Macclesfield Town (2) 2 Browne 13 Norburn 45
York City (2) 3 Parkin 8 Oliver 22 Connolly 86
Combined Attendance: 38,224
Played at Wembley Stadium

Entrance: £5
Combined Programme: £5
Mileage: 100/9,659

Match Report

Refreshed from a couple of drinks and plenty of football talk to while away the couple of hours between matches, we retook our seats fully expectant of a tight contest that would probably yield few goals, which would be shame as I needed a six goal thriller to finish my season on 500 goals.

My expectation was to rise very quickly as, by the 14th minute a goal had been scored by both sides. Macclesfield appeared to settle the quicker but went behind after eight minutes when Jon Parkin did what he has been doing for years, getting on the end of a cross from Danny Holmes to glance a header past ex-Gillingham goalkeeper, Scott Flinders.

The lead was not to last long though as the Cheshire side equalised six minutes later. An angled shot from Rhys Browne, who had an eye-catching afternoon, found its way under the body of the York goalkeeper, Kyle Letheren.

Twenty-two minutes had elapsed when Sean Newton’s cross across the face of goal allowed Vadaine Oliver a tap in at the far post.

Macclesfield responded well and should have been level long before their first half injury time equaliser. Letheren did well to turn away a shot from distance by Danny Whitaker and subsequently a close range save from the same player.

When the exciting Browne weaved his way from left and into a shooting position on the edge of the six yard box the hard work had been done but his shot sailed into the early evening sky.

But the Silkmen were not to be denied. Ollie Norburn powered in an unstoppable shot from 25 yards into the top corner to earn well-deserved parity at the break.

Four first half goals, two left for the 500, I now had the group on my side. The game had been so open in the first half, a couple more goals seemed almost assured.

Macclesfield did their level best to help me achieve the magic figure but York were nothing if not resilient with the best chance of the half being cleared from the line by York’s Hamza Bencherif.

Time was slipping away when York, against the run of play, got their noses in front. A long ball out of defence found the bustling Parkin who wasn’t to be shaken off before firing in a shot that took a huge deflection and looped over the despairing Flinders. Aiden Connolly made sure the ball crossed the line but the goal was all about Parkin’s dogged persistence.

There were still four minutes remaining with another four to be added and now the group were willing the ball into the net from either side just to make the 500, in truth nobody came close before the referee brought down the curtain on the 2016-17 season.