Burton Albion 2, York City 1

Mark Greaves’ Boxing Day own goal at Burton Albion, which gifted his former club a flattering 2-1 win, was the fifth the Minstermen have conceded since August following similar embarassing efforts by David McGurk, Mark Robinson, Ben Purkiss and Danny Parslow.

It is an unusual record that has cost City a staggering eight points on the road this season, meaning the difference between the club’s current 16th-placed standing in the Blue Square Premier table and a position just outside the play-off frame.

Greaves put through his own net on 70 minutes from Andy Corbett’s cross after referee Gary Sutton had been equally generous in the award of a free-kick that led to Burton’s equaliser, cancelling out Adam Smith’s opening goal for the visitors.

The Minstermen can count themselves unfortunate, though, to leave Staffordshire with no reward against their table-topping hosts, who have lost just two home games in 2008 and are yet to taste defeat at the Pirelli Stadium this season.

An uneventful start to the match, however, saw few chances for either side.

On six minutes, Shaun Harrad’s angled drive deflected off David McGurk and over Michael Ingham’s crossbar.

At the other end, Onome Sodje, sporting a new Afro hairstyle, cut in from the right before unleashing a shot that sailed wide but the Minstermen failed to capitalise when Burton played with ten men for almost quarter of an hour as Jake Buxton received treatment to a head injury.

Greg Pearson wasted a great opportunity on 25 minutes when he shot weakly at Ingham after finding space in the visitors’ penalty box.

An unmarked Buxton might also have done better when he was found by Keith Gilroy’s left-wing corner, glancing his header wide from six yards.

The second half was a much better spectacle with Ingham forced into an impressive diving save after Gilroy had cut in from the left and unleashed a powerful drive on 47 minutes.

A twisting run by Sodje then ended with the City striker lofting an eight-yard shot over and veteran home goal keeper Kevin Poole made his first save of the afternoon on 50 minutes when he gathered Simon Rusk’s skimming edge-of-the-box effort.

City forged ahead on 58 minutes when Sodje rolled the ball down the right wing for Smith to collect.

The on-loan Gainsborough winger cut inside before beating Poole with a low drive into the 45-year-old ’keeper’s bottom right-hand corner.

Smith was denied a carbon-copy of that goal when, having been found by Rusk, he slipped past Aaron Webster and aimed an identical left-footed, low shot into the same corner.

As City’s supporters prepared to celebrate another goal, however, Burton right-back Corbett made a terrific goal-line clearance and his intervention proved the game’s turning point.

On 61 minutes, the Brewers were level after Gilroy tumbled to the ground despite no contact having been seemingly made by a City player.

Ingham dived low to his left to keep out Ryan Austin’s firmly-struck 25-yard free-kick but, when the Northern Ireland international failed to hold on to the ball, Harrad pounced to force the ball over the line from a yard.

Corbett then raided down the right and his low cross was sliced into Ingham’s bottom right-hand corner by the crestfallen Greaves.

City tried valiantly to grab the equaliser their display deserved with Richard Brodie having a shot deflected over and Poole saving McGurk’s header from a Steven Hogg free-kick.

Another McGurk header from Ben Purkiss’ right-wing cross saw Brodie shown a yellow card after he attempted to punch the ball in at the far post.

Greaves was unfortunate not to atone for his earlier error when he rose to meet substitute Simon Russell’s corner but the ball deflected off the head of unwitting Burton striker Harrad and over.

Another Russell cross saw Smith miss the best chance to earn a point, however, when he headed wide at the far post in the 90th minute.

Match facts

Burton Albion 2 (Harrad 62, Greaves og 70), York City (Smith 53)

City:Michael Ingham 7, Ben Purkiss 7, Danny Parslow 7, David McGurk 7, Andy McWilliams 7, Steven Hogg 6, Mark Greaves 6, Simon Rusk 7, Adam Smith 8, Adam Smith 8, Onome Sodje 7.

Substitutions: Simon Russell (for Hogg, 77) Daniel McBreen (for Brodie, 86) Adam Boyes (for Sodje, 86) Subs not used: Mimms, Kelly, Russell.

Key:10 – Faultless; 9 – Outstanding; 8 – Excellent; 7 – Good; 6 – Average; 5 – Below par; 4 – Poor; 3 – Dud; 2 – Hopeless; 1 – Retire

City’s star man: Smith – the main goal threat and dangerous every time he ran at the Burton defence.

Burton Albion: Kevin Poole, Andy Corbett, Ryan Austin, Jake Buxton, Aaron Webster, Keith Gilroy (Danny Holmes, 90), Michael Simpson, Lee Morris (Marc Goodfellow, 73), Shaun Harrad, Greg Pearson.
Subs: Jody Banim, Saul Deeney, Matt Bailey.

Yellow cards: Pearson 28, Brodie 81, Rusk 90.

Referee: Gary Sutton (Lincolnshire).
Rating: got some decisions wrong as television cameras confirmed.

Attendance: 3,578.

Save of the match: Ingham’s diving stop from Gilroy’s right-footed strike early in the second half.

Shot of the match: Smith’s cool left-footed finish that gave City the lead.

Clearance of the match: Corbett’s last-gasp intervention that prevented Smith grabbing a second goal.

City player watch: Daniel Parslow

Goal attempts on target: 0

Goal attempts off target: 0

Blocked goal attempts: 0

Passes to own player: 10

Passes to opposition: 4

Crosses to own player: 0

Crosses to opposition: 0

Pass completion rate: 71.4 per cent

Dribbles ball retained: 0

Dribbles ball lost: 1

Dribble completion rate: 0 per cent

Headers: 19

Tackles: 4

Clearances, blocks and interceptions: 8

Fouls won: 1

Fouls conceded: 0

Offsides: 0

Yellow cards: 0

Final summary: City’s former Welsh Under-21 international gave a typically, whole-hearted performance at the heart of the defence. Unusually for a centre-back, he did not commit a single foul in 90 minutes and won a decent number of headers. Parslow’s passing was generally reliable and he cleared his lines when necessary.