Eccleshill 0 City 2

 Peter Taylor had warned City’s non-league opponents not to “play the superstar” over the coming weeks with any over-the-top tackles.

Unfortunately, for youngster Luke Dean, his manager’s words fell on deaf ears.

The midfielder’s involvement in tonight’s pre-season opener was brought to a premature and shuddering end after 27 minutes by the heftiest of challenges.

The tackle on the halfway line brought an angry response from Taylor, who came rushing down from the stand to shout at Eccleshill’s Mick Baker.

It was no x-rated lunge from Baker but it was the sort of full-blooded, thundering collision that you do not expect to see in the first week of pre-season.

“That’s a shocking tackle,” shouted the City manager several times before hurrying on to the pitch to join the players surrounding the stricken Dean.

Play was stopped for seven minutes while Dean was gingerly taken away. For a player with only a six-month contract to prove himself in Taylor’s plans, it was the cruellest of blows.

It also struck a sour note on what should have been a memorable night for Eccleshill. A bumper 1,200 turn-out, most paying a tenner a head, will have given them a real financial windfall to carry through the year ahead.

Dean had teamed up with Lee Bullock for the first half, which saw trialist Matthew Tipton reviving his Maccles-field strike partnership with Gareth Evans.

All of City’s first-half chances fell to Evans, though the opening goal was more goalkeeping error than deadly finish as Jamie Abbott’s clearance cannoned back off the striker and into the empty net.

Eccleshill had played their part up to that point, with Jon McLaughlin tipping Andy Fieldhouse’s shot on to the bar to prevent a shock lead. But the Dean injury took the wind out of their sails.

It was all change at half-time, with only the two O’Briens – James had taken over from Dean in midfield – staying on. Luke O’Brien switched to right back in a back four now featuring new signing Shane Duff.

James Hanson and Michael Flynn had both recovered from their stiff backs to play and the big targetman, taking the captain’s armband, was joined up front by Lee Morris.

Scott Neilson, another keen to make up for lost time, clipped the foot of the post with a header and Morris showed neat control bursting into the box as City took control.

Flynn produced the pass of the game to angle the ball into Hanson, whose thumping half-volley dipped just too late.

The chances were stacking up. Hanson inadvertently set up Neilson with a horrible slice which the lively winger smacked instantly against the woodwork and then Robbie Threlfall’s curler was tipped over.

Duff had little defending to do at the other end, where he was up against former Valley Parade trainee Roy Fogarty in his yellow boots.

Having made mass changes of their own, Ian Banks’s side barely got out of their half.

Lloyd Saxton, on for McLaughlin in goal, had to make do with fielding the odd backpass on his City debut with the game camped in home territory.

Leon Osborne fired wide from close range before a second finally materialised in the last minute. A Morris snap-shot was parried by sub keeper Jordan Wright and Hanson side-footed in the rebound via the underside of the bar for a goal against his old club.

CITY (first half): McLaughlin, Ramsden, L O’Brien, Bullock, Rehman, Oliver, Daley, Dean (J O’Brien 27), Evans, Tipton, Harrison.

Second half: Saxton, L O'Brien, Threlfall, Flynn, Williams, Duff, Neilson, J O’Brien, Osborne, Morris, Hanson.