PLAYER-BOSS Chris Brass will go straight back into the York City team as he aims to lead his club to safety by example.

Brass completed his four-match suspension on Saturday after he watched his side slump to a 3-0 defeat at fellow strugglers Bristol Rovers and that performance removed any doubts that the Minstermen manager might have harboured about giving himself an instant recall.

Despite keeping a clean sheet against Torquay, City have shipped ten goals in the four games Brass has missed since the 0-0 draw at Oxford and slipped to 21st in the Division Three table.

Now, the former Burnley defender is determined to rectify those problems at the back in the last eight games of the season, starting with Sunday's vital clash with second-bottom Macclesfield.

Brass was scheduled this afternoon to return to action for the reserves at home to Grimsby Town. Also in the side was recent loan signing Jon Newby.

He said: "It has been frustrating. I have been out for four games and we have conceded four, three and three and kept just one clean sheet. That's not good enough.

"Drawing 0-0 with Torquay and then losing by three at Bristol shows a lack of consistency. I wanted to be coming into the next game thinking I am not going to put myself in but, as it happens, it looks like I'm going to have to play because I want to lead by example.

"It's times like these that you have to stand up and be counted. I think a few of the Bristol lads did that. They showed the fight and desire you need."

"We have made one or two basic mistakes and you can't afford to. You have got to get the basics right, clear your lines and get organised.

"Hopefully, I can calm one or two nerves, get back in there and steady the ship."

Brass will also be hoping Darren Edmondson can recover from his calf problem in time join his manager in Sunday's starting line-up and Mitch Ward, who missed the trip to Bristol with a hamstring injury, and non-contract signing Kevin Donovan could both play if they can prove their fitness.

Having impressed for the reserves last week, goalkeeper Mark Ovendale may also earn a recall as Brass looks for experienced heads during the club's crucial run-in to the end of the season.

He said: "Hopefully Darren will be back on Sunday and the extra day might help. Missing players like him has not helped because we need experience and people who will put their heads on the block and take that added responsibility.

"There are good players out there but, at times like these, one or two of the younger lads go hiding because of the circumstances we find ourselves in."

On-loan Huddersfield striker Newby may also be given a starting place against Macclesfield, having made his City debut as a 50th-minute substitute at the Memorial Ground.

Brass said: "Jon showed a little bit of promise and we have seen what he's all about. It will have done him good to see the way we line up and he will have a few weeks training with the boys and he's somebody who does have goals in him. You can see he was always on the front foot and was positive, as was Matthew Coad when he came on."

Newby's fellow loanee Richard Offiong, from Newcastle, limped out of the action at Bristol with a dead-leg but is expected to be available to face Macclesfield.

Updated: 10:34 Monday, March 29, 2004