Evening Press Sport

York City chief Terry Dolan cast his eye forward to Saturday's crunch six pointer at home to bottom-club Carlisle and promptly gave his team the day off today.

The City boss revealed it was the first day of rest he had given his senior squad since his appointment almost a month ago to the day.

Dolan insisted he had not gone soft on his team but believed a day off would provide them with a chance to recharge their batteries ahead of Saturday.

And it was reward too for a battling performance at a wet Macclesfield last night which saw City record only their second point in seven games and score their first goal under Dolan's direction.

Despite City's failure to once again break down ten men - Macclesfield's Simon Davies was sent off just before half-time - Dolan believed City showed signs they are heading in the right direction. Psychologically, it was important we got something from the game and I am pleased with the way the lads have worked," he said.

"It was an improvement on previous performances and I think it was vital we got something.

"Saturday is a very important game and I told the players to have a good rest tomorrow, they have worked hard and they deserve it, and then we can get ready for Carlisle."

He added: "But I only hope that from now until the end of the season we play against 11 men and not ten because we just cannot play against ten men.

"We have got to be able to deal with it better than we have done but it is not something you can plan for in training."

"We knew we had to battle. They are a strong and organised side but we didn't give any ground which I was pleased about.

"We can still work on better quality. I was disappointed with some of our set-pieces and there are certainly things to work on."

Dolan said he was particularly delighted with Kevin Hulme's well-worked equalising goal, the first scored since he took charge.

"I think we deserved to get back on level terms because we were playing some good stuff," said Dolan.

The City boss revealed he missed Davies' stamp on Lee Bullock that led to the former Manchester United player's red card and the disallowing of Macclesfield's second goal.

"But I know the linesman on the far side had seen it that is why I was trying to get the referee's attention to go see him," said Dolan. "Lee had played them on side in any case and I was worried the referee was still going to give a goal. But he made the right decision and full marks to him."

Dolan said he was impressed by James Turley, who started up front instead of Barry Conlon, and was delighted to see Steve Agnew complete his first 90 minutes since returning from a six-week lay-off.

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