AFTER another week of disappointing results York City are facing a stern test of nerve.

The performance against Chesterfield hinted at brighter times but until points are in the bag City will walk a tightrope.

It has been well documented manager Terry Dolan is planning a big clear out in the summer.

Yet the club currently needs those same players to help stave-off the threat of relegation.

It really is something of a Catch-22 puzzler.

The easy option would be to splash what cash is available now in a bid to banish the spectre of the Conference.

The alternative is to try and ride out the storm, banking on the current squad to do the job, even though many must know they have no future at Bootham Crescent beyond the end of the season.

Many will say avoiding relegation must take priority over anything else.

Others will argue the wait and see policy is in the best interests of the club long term.

Spending money doesn't always guarantee success and quality players are not going to rush to join a club threatened with Conference football.

Nor will stop-gap signings made now for a relegation dog-fight necessarily fit in with Dolan's plans for next season when supporters will demand a streamlined squad primed for success.

The club is in limbo and safety from the drop at the season's end can't come soon enough.

Only then will the uncertainty lift and Dolan's plans for the future of City become clear.

The conundrum was not lost on the City chief.

He said: "I will be the first to admit that the players who have turned out haven't done as well as I expected them to.

"That probably proves we might have a big enough squad numbers wise, but quality wise it is proving not to be good enough.

"It is no secret that there are 11 or 12 contracts up at the end of the season and they won't all be renewed that is for sure.

"Players can take it one way or another.

"They can say 'I am going to show that I deserve to have another contract', or they can say I am going elsewhere anyway.

"If that is the case there is nothing I can do about that."

The list of the players whose contracts are up at the end of the season are: Mark Sertori, Kevin Hulme, Wayne Hall, Neville Stamp, David McNiven, James Turley, Martin Reed, Steve Agnew, Scott Jordan, Barry Jones, Chris Fairclough. Darren Patterson is in the middle of a three-month contract.

AS fans called for his head this week, Dolan didn't have far to look for comfort and a sense of perspective.

"You have only got to look down the road and six or seven weeks ago people were talking about David O'Leary as the next manager of Man United and he couldn't do a thing wrong," said the City chief.

"Now people are questioning his ability.

"And the new England manager, he supposedly left Lazio because he wasn't doing a good job there.

"So I am in good company."

THE York City Five, who have been keeping the club's hopes of silverware alive this season, narrowly missed out on a trip to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

The City team reached the semi-final of the Worthington Fives, the first amateur tournament that gives fans the chance to represent their club in a national five-a-side tournament, before losing 5-0 to their Bolton counterparts.

City booked their place in the last four with a 5-1 quarter-final win over Gillingham but were unfortunate to come up against last season's runners-up in the semi-final.

The City Five didn't leave completely empty-handed.

They won the award for best supported team and received ten crates of beer.

NEW additions to the Bootham Crescent treatment room have left City with an entire side, minus a goalkeeper, sidelined.

Playing 5-3-2, City's 'walking wounded' could line-up: Darren Edmondson (right-back), Gary Hobson, Chris Fairclough and Darren Patterson (centre-halves), Wayne Hall (left-back), Christian Fox, Kevin Hulme and Lee Bullock (midfield), Alex Mathie and Peter Duffield (strikers).

If push came to shove, Hulme could always don the goalkeeping gloves having being called on as an emergency shot-stopper three times during his career - each time keeping a clean sheet!

TICKETS for Wayne Hall's second dinner are said to be going well.

Around 100 places have already been snapped up for the Sportsman's Dinner at York Racecourse on Tuesday, March 13.

BBC Look North presenter Harry Gration, also part of the BBC's Olympic Games team last year, is guest of honour with Jimmy Bright providing the comedy and Neil Midgley serving as the master of ceremonies.

Tickets for event, which will bring to a close Hall's testimonial year, are priced £28 and are available by writing to Graham Bradbury at 49 Hull Road, York YO10 3JP or telephoning 01904 430036.

Cheques should be made payable to Wayne Hall Testimonial Fund.

Bradbury would also welcome offers of sponsorship and raffle prizes.