Harriers 0
York 2

LACKLUSTRE Harriers' FA Cup hopes were ended by professional York at Aggborough on Saturday.

Steve Burr's side endured a miserable day as they failed to fire in the fourth qualifying round.

Goals in each half for Danny Racchi and Jonathan Smith saw them crash out on a day when substitute Ollie Thorne was sent off.

With the club up for sale, the club were in desperate need of the £12,500 prize money and a chance to impress any potential buyers but Harrierrs produced one of their poorest displays of the season.

There were two changes to the side which drew at Kettering. Mike Williams returned at left-back after recovering from a hip problem, while Tom Shaw made a rare start in midfield for the injured Jack Byrne.

Harriers faded after a bright opening 10 minute spell and allowed York to take control and open the scoring in the 24th minute.

Centrebacks Michael Briscoe and Mark Albrighton were caught out by an innocuous long ball forward and Daniel Racchi, spotting keeper Danny Lewis off his line, fired a left-footed volley over the shot-stopper into the back of the net.

It could have been worse as fluent York powered forward for a goal.

Right-back Lee Vaughan had already prevented a goal before York's opener when he beat Racchi to a hanging cross and then made sure the score remained at 1-0 in the 27th minute. A shot had ricocheted off the defender and fell to Michael Rankine but when York's burly hitman fired in a firm goalbound effort, the Harriers defender dived to block bravely.

Rankine came close again when he saw a curling 25-yard effort fly just wide.

Harriers looked on the ropes and things got worse when captain Keith Briggs limped off injured in the 39th minute. He was replaced by centreback Ollie Thorne and sparked a mass positional reshuffle by Burr.

Lee Vaughan partnered Callum Gittings in central midifeld, with Michael Briscoe moving to right back.

Matty Blair was switched to the left and he almost made an immediate impact, running the full length of the pitch and brushing aside Alex Lawless, before finding Chris McPhee.

Harriers' five goal top scorer was surrounded by York's defence and stabbed a deflected effort wide.

The home side improved in the second half, with Blair shooting wide on the turn but Harriers were 2-0 down in the 53rd minute.

Rankine took advantage of Thorne's slip to power into the box, before drawing Lewis out and squaring the ball to Smith. Despite the efforts of Briscoe to block him, the York midfielder slid in to score.

Harriers' managment went for broke, throwing on striker Nick Wright and wideman David Hankin for Lee Morris and centreback Mark Albrighton respectively in the 61st minute but they failed to make an impact.

It could have been worse in the 73rd minute when another slip on the soggy pitch by Thorne allowed Lawless to break forward and slip the ball to Racchi but Lewis saved at his right hand post.

Thorne's wretched day came to an end in the 76th minute when he was shown a straight red card for a wreckless challenge that left Danny Parslow in agony on the pitch.

Harriers' wretched day has been compounded in the 87th minute when Blair had a goal ruled out for offside.

Man of the match Vaughan had driven into the box and saw a shot come off the post before being fired into the back of the net by the winger, but the linesman raised his flag for offside.

Harriers: Lewis; Vaughan; Williams; Shaw; Albrighton (Hankin, 61); Briggs (Thorne, 39); Morris (Wright, 61); McPhee; Briscoe; Blair; Gittings.

Unused substitutes: Stevens; Wright; Hankin; Thorne; Sharpe; Thompson-Brown.

York: Ingham; Meredith; Smith; McGurk; Parslow; Lawless; Rankine (Gash, 83); McDermott; Constantine; Racchi (Carruthers, 81); Smith.

Unused substitutes: Knight; Sangare; Fyfield; Young; Beesley.

Referee: Rob Merchant (Staffordshire). Attendance: 1,123 (144)