A late debut goal for Brandon Njoku rescued a point away at York City, having trailed thanks to goals from Ollie Pearce and Callum Howe.
Pearce opened the scoring after just 11 minutes from the penalty spot, arrowing a powerful strike into the top corner after Tyrese Sinclair was tripped in the box, but couldn’t repeat his efforts 15 minutes later when the Minstermen were awarded a second spot-kick after Liam Vincent was penalised for a handball, with Pearce sending his shot wide of the target via the post.
Sutton took advantage of this lifeline, and drew level on the stroke of half time when Ashley Nadesan broke away down the left flank and slid the ball into the middle, where David Ogbonna was alert to squeeze the ball over the line despite Mark Kitching’s best efforts to clear it.
York restored their advantage on the hour-mark though as a corner was turned home by Howe, but despite leading for the remainder of the half, Sutton rescued a point when Jack Taylor’s flick-on fell to Njoku, who slid the ball past Harrison Male with a true poacher’s finish to steal a point on opening day.
A draw at the LNER Community Stadium sees the U’s jump to 11th in the Enterprise National League table after the first game, and switch their attention to National League Cup action with the visit of Fulham on Tuesday night.
Six summer recruits were among the starting line-up including the returning Nadesan up top, along with Aaron Jones who led the team out as club captain for the 2025/26 season. There was also a place in the team for Jayden Harris, who made his first competitive appearance since November due to an Achilles injury.
It was the hosts who came out the blocks quickest for the new season though, and continued where they left off by showing the sort of quality that saw them finish the previous campaign in second place, racking up over 90 points in the process.
Pearce was almost gifted an opening after five minutes although he was unable to take advantage of Harry Phipps misjudging a through ball, shortly before Sinclair had a couple of chances of his own in quick succession.
The York winger picked up the ball in space inside the box after some good work on the right flank, but saw his effort rise high above the crossbar with a poor attempt from a good position.
However, Sinclair redeemed himself moments later when he twisted inside and out on the left-hand side before being tripped in the box, with referee Andrew Miller pointing to the spot.
Pearce then stepped up from 12 yards to place a superb effort into the top corner to get off the mark for the new campaign, breaking the deadlock after 11 minutes.
The U’s showed a positive response though and almost levelled the score immediately when Harris squeezed an effort through a sea of bodies, forcing Male to palm his effort away from point blank range, shortly before Vincent tried his luck from distance but saw his effort blocked, following a short corner routine.
The former Tonbridge Angels man was soon caught in controversy at the other end though, with Sutton gifting York a chance to double their lead when Vincent was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box, with Pearce stepping up to the penalty spot for the second time in the opening half-an-hour.
However, last season’s National League top scorer was unable to extend York’s advantage, seeing his effort clip the post and bounce wide of the target to give Steve Morison’s side a lifeline.
Despite this, York continued to see the better of proceedings and went close again through Alex Newby, who cut inside and bent an effort wide of the far post, before Jack Sims was called into action to produce an outstanding double stop to deny Newby first, and then Kitching’s follow-up, deflecting the shot high in the air where Sinclair had a third bite of the cherry, but could only direct his header over the crossbar.
This then preceded a turnaround for the visitors, who despite being on the back foot for much of proceedings, found an equaliser with six minutes remaining of the first half.
Nadesan countered at pace and sent a low effort into the middle, where Ogbonna found space to poke the ball over the line to ensure it was all square at the interval.
Despite taking the momentum into the second half with their late goal, it was York who once again came out the blocks quickest, with Pearce coming close to regaining the lead seconds after the restart when he found himself through on goal early on, but could only roll a tame effort harmlessly wide of the target.
Sutton then broke away as they looked to mount a counter-attack, with Simper sliding a ball through to Nadesan who drove forward before picking out Ogbonna, who’s low ball into the box was cleared away despite Simper’s efforts to recover and keep the chance alive.
The U’s continued to push though, with Phipps heading Vincent’s delivery into the gloves of Male, moments York responded with a couple of excellent chances at the other end.
Hiram Boateng struck a low drive at goal that was cleared away by the foot of Sims, with Ollie Banks’ rebound flying wide of the target via a deflection, which resulted in a corner that was eventually recovered by Malachi-Fagan-Walcott, who’s cross to Howe failed to cause Sims any trouble.
The Minstermen continued to pile the pressure on though, with Newby jinking inside and out before seeing an effort deflect into the gloves of Sims, moments before York finally found the breakthrough when another corner was turned over the line by Howe from close range, despite the best efforts of Edon Pruti who gunned for the same ball.
A triple change instantly followed by Morison in search of a second leveller of the afternoon, with Will Tizzard and Kane Crichlow coming on for their competitive debuts alongside Siju Odelusi, replacing Phipps, Harris and Alex Woodyard.
Tizzard was immediately involved as York continued to ramp up their threat in attack, with Banks seeing his cross-shot blocked by the former Queen’s Park’s man’s midriff, moments before Joe Grey – who had come on for York in place of Sinclair minutes earlier – forced Sims into a tremendous fingertip save from close range.
A further two changes were then made by Morison, who introduced Dillon De Silva and Brandon Njoku in place of Ogbonna and Nadesan, and the former produced an opening with one of his first touches, standing a ball up towards the far post where Vincent headed over the top.
With the clock ticking towards 90, Sutton looked down and out heading into the final stages, but it was super sub Njoku who came to the rescue with three minutes to go. A Vincent throw-in was cleared as far as Simper who swung a superb ball back into the box towards Taylor, who’s knock-down dropped perfectly into the path of the former Cambridge man, who stuck a leg out to slide the ball past Male at the death, and was enough to secure a result on the road.
York City: Male; Kitching, Fagan-Walcott, Howe, Palmer (Stones 85’), Sinclair (Grey 60’), Pearce, Boateng, Felix, Banks, Newby (Nathaniel-George 85’)
Sutton United: Sims; Vincent, Phipps (Tizzard 59’), Simper, Nadesan (Njoku 70’), Pruti, Taylor, Jones, Ogbonna (De Silva 70’), Harris (Crichlow 59’), Woodyard (Odelusi 59’)
Photo Credit: Paul Loughlin
