BUOYANT Chris Smith reckons York City are primed to end their travel sickness at Scunthorpe United on Saturday.

The statistics may suggest otherwise with City having not won at Scunthorpe in more than a decade, their last victory at Glanford Park coming in October 1992.

City's more recent away form gives even less cause for optimism.

The Minstermen have failed to win any of their last six away-days and last tasted victory on the road on August 23.

The only goal City have scored away from Bootham Crescent since then was in the LDV Vans Trophy and that a penalty against Conference side Halifax Town.

While history and form are against City, centre-back Smith believes patience will prove a virtue against The Iron.

"Since I've been at York it has always been a battle against Scunthorpe and, to be honest, they've always had the better outcomes.

"Hopefully, we can put it right tomorrow," he reasoned.

"We've not had the best of times away from Bootham Crescent lately and Scunthorpe is a very difficult place to go.

"But I think it is just a matter of showing a bit more patience away from home.

"Knowing when to win the ball, when to back off, when to pass and when to keep it - we will only get that with experience.

"We are learning fast but we have to be more consistent now.

"That is where a lot of teams fall down in the Third Division but we are trying to get that consistency.

"In our last two games we have shown signs of it.

"We didn't play particularly well last Saturday but there were more positives than negatives.

"Against Oxford in midweek, we were much more like the team that started the season.

"When we closed the ball down we closed down as a team, like we did in the first four games.

"And we passed it well too, even though they made it difficult for us."

Smith, who has only just returned to the City first-team after a slow recovery from a hernia operation at the end of last season, admitted even at this stage in the campaign that tomorrow's clash with The Iron marked something of a six-pointer.

City lie in tenth place in Division Three, just three points of the play-off positions and just five points off third place.

However, 13th-placed Scunthorpe could move above the Minstermen with victory tomorrow, as could another three teams in the closely-contested mid-table.

"It's still dead tight," said Smith.

"We could drop to 15th if we lose but if we win we could go up a few places and certainly back into the play-offs so it is obviously a big game."

York City: Ovendale, Cooper, Smith, Brass, Hope, Merris, Dunning, Ward, Bullock, Nogan, Parkin. Subs from: Porter, George, Dove, Edmondson, Wood, Crowe, Brackstone.

Scunthorpe (probable): Russell, Jackson, Byrne, Butler, Stanton, Barwick, Kilford, Beagrie, Sharp, Torpey, MacLean. Subs from: Evans, Graves, McCombe, Ridley, Hayes, Keegan.

Referee: Eddie Evans (Manchester)

Kick off: 3pm

A total of 27 League visits to Scunthorpe have resulted in seven wins and five draws for City.

Scunthorpe have won the last five League matches between the clubs (home and away) and City's last victory over the Iron was 2-0 at Bootham Crescent in September 2000.

City have lost on the last three trips to Glanford Park with the corresponding game last term ending in a 2-1 victory for United.

City's line-up on August 24, 2002 was: Beresford, Edmondson, Smith, Jones (Wise)-(Rogerio), Hobson, Cowan, Brass, Brackstone (Bullock), Nogan, Parkin, Duffield.

City's last League win at Scunthorpe was 2-1 in 1992/93 when Jon McCarthy, above left, and Nigel Pepper (penalty) were on target.

Among the players to have represented both clubs are Graeme Crawford, Joe Neenan, Jimmy Rudd, Ian Helliwell, Keith Houchen, Nigel Pepper and Martin Carruthers.

Stats by David Batters

Updated: 11:03 Friday, October 24, 2003