Cody McDonald marked the start of his second spell at Gillingham with the equaliser against York. Picture: Barry Goodwin

by Luke Cawdell

New signing Cody McDonald pounced to rescue a point for Gillingham at Priestfield on Saturday.

York took a surprise lead on 17 minutes as Charlie Lee turned the ball into his own net.

Gillingham’s equaliser didn’t arrive until the 85th minute as McDonald headed home to salvage something from the game.

It was a happy end to an otherwise less-than-dominant performance for the Gills, as the run without a home win was stretched to five games.

Victory would have seen Gillingham return to the top of League 2 but the point gained leaves them a point behind table-toppers Port Vale.

Gills boss Martin Allen made four changes to his starting XI but resisted the temptation to put McDonald straight in. He had to make do with a place on the bench.

Lee had come in as a replacement for Matt Fish at right-back. It was the first time this season that Fish failed to start a match.

Moments after Lee had hacked a dangerous cross clear from in front of his own goal he deflected a Patrick McLaughlin corner into the Gills net to give York the lead.

Gillingham’s best chances of the half fell to captain and central defender Adam Barrett, but these were few and far between. One header from Danny Kedwell’s cross went narrowly over before keeper Michael Ingham produced a fantastic one-handed save to deny another Barrett header.

The Gills were struggling to get in behind York’s defence and before the half was over Allen decided to bring Myles Weston on, to add a different dimension to their attack.

Weston made an immediate impact, forcing a corner, and it was from Charlie Allen’s set-piece that Barrett came agonisingly close to scoring the equaliser.

The Gills started the second half brightly, with a change at the break, as Fish replaced Allen. It meant Lee moving into midfield.

But despite the positive start Matty Blair almost scored on the break soon after the restart, but put his shot into the side-netting.

At the other end Leon Legge got his head to a cross but saw the ball sail just over the bar.

McDonald’s arrival, with 55 minutes gone, helped lift the atmosphere at Priestfield but visiting captain Chris Smith almost doubled York’s advantage as he headed McLaughlin’s free-kick against a post.

The game was opening up and Lee drilled a low shot into the goalkeeper’s arms on the hour. Lee was almost forced off with a head injury with 20 minutes to go, which would have left the Gills down to 10 men, but after much discussion between the medical staff he returned to the action.

A low free-kick from Chris Whelpdale forced Ingham into making a save with 12 minutes left and moments later he fired wildly over.

Lee was withdrawn briefly, following advice from the club doctor, leaving the Gills a man down for several minutes before the medical staff were satisfied with his condition.

With five minutes of normal time remaining McDonald guided home a Weston cross to level the scores and mark his return in style in front of a delighted Rainham End.

McDonald came close to scoring a winner, moments later, but Ingham held on to the header and a frantic finish saw Blair put a great chance wide on the counter-attack, under pressure from Fish.

Gillingham: Nelson, Martin, Lee, Legge, Barrett, Frampton (Weston 38mins), Gregory, Allen (Fish 46mins), Whelpdale, Kedwell, Birchall (McDonald 55mins). Subs not used: Davies, Burton, Forecast, Muggleton.

York City: Ingham, Oyebanjo (Challinor 81mins), Smith, Parslow, Kerr, Walker, Blair, Potts, O’Connell, McLaughlin, Rodman (Bullock 90mins). Subs not used: Musselwhite, Johnson, McReady, Everson, Allan.

Attendance: 4,893.