York City boss Terry Dolan is closing in fast on the signature of Scott Jones on a free transfer from Bristol Rovers.

Terms with the player have all ready been agreed, with Jones going through the first part of his medical last night.

The left-sided defender, who was a hit among supporters after joining the Minstermen on loan from the Pirates at the end of last season, will now have the second part of the medical - a scan - either today or tomorrow and if the results are clear the transfer will then be completed.

It is a deal that has taken City some time, but Dolan now looks to have finally got his man.

Dolan told the Evening Press: "Scott Jones had a medical last night and will now have a scan either today or tomorrow. Once we've done that I expect him to be a York City player.

"He had the medical as the doctor was here and will now just have the scan in the next day or so, but there is no immediate rush."

After seven starts - including the 3-0 victory over his parent club - one appearance as a substitute and even scoring the winning goal against Swansea for City, the Sheffield-born defensive linchpin had headed back to the south west with hopes of a permanent deal seemingly blocked by the fact Rovers could demand a fee for Jones as he had a year left on his contract.

However the 27-year-old, who enjoyed Premiership football with Barnsley, has now agreed on a settlement that has freed him from his final year at The Memorial Stadium after telling boss Ray Graydon that he wanted to head back north.

Ironically, Jones only joined City on loan after Dolan's original target, Tom Cowan suffered a hamstring injury while making a rare appearance for Cambridge United.

The experienced Cowan final teamed up with York on a full-time basis in the closed season, but now Jones will team up with the tough tackling Scotsman, as well as former Oakwell team-mate Jon Parkin, to add some much-needed steel to the City back line.

The futures of City's six trialists will be top of the agenda for Dolan and his management team over the next few days.

Goalkeeper Jon Kennedy, striker Rogerio Carvalho, and defensive duo James Okoli and Chris Kamara all played in last night's 2-0 friendly defeat by Middlesbrough, with experienced non-League forward Simon Parke and Argentine winger Nicolas Mazzina missing out through injury.

The City chief was pleased with the displays of his trialists, viewing the defeat as a good test for the whole squad ahead of the serious business of chasing promotion from Division Three.

"That was an excellent work out for us," he added. "To say we are ten days away from the start of the season, it helped to have one or two players back from injury and it was important one or two players got 90 minutes under their belts.

"The minds were more concentrated tonight and we played against a decent team - it was just disappointing that we got caught by a sucker punch for the second goal when allowing someone to take a quick free-kick instead of someone standing in front of the ball until the wall was lined up.

"Another disappointing factor was that we created one or two good chances that we didn't convert - Tom Cowan was unlucky with the follow-up to the free-kick, Rogerio has had a couple of half-chances, Lee Nogan has had a chance and then Lee Bullock had the best chance but miss-timed his header. I was waiting for the net to bulge."

Updated: 12:25 Thursday, August 01, 2002