York City face losing out on a first day debut for their Scottish quarry.

Coveted winger Gordon Connelly is to remain with his club Airdrie after the Scottish First Division outfit rejected City's latest offer.

It is understood the Minstermen made a revised bid for the 21-year-old prospect, but it fell considerably below the Diamonds' £100,000 valuation of Connelly.

Losing out on Connelly was a major setback for City boss Alan Little, who has been urgently seeking to fill the right-wing void caused by the June move of Graeme Murty to Second Division big-spenders Reading for £700,000.

He has always insisted that a replacement for Murty has been his summer recruiting priority. And Connelly had been designated for immediate action in the Division Two opener at Preston on Saturday.

Sighed the City manager: "Airdrie have said they are not prepared to make a decision on what we want and we won't go to tribunal so I can't pursue it anymore. It's up to them to make the next move.

"I'm disappointed. It's gone on a long time, since the tournament on the 18th of last month. I've shown my intention but we're no further forward than we were then."

But Little added he would not give up in his search for a replacement for Murty and the Connelly deal could still be revived.

"I haven't got anybody in mind at this point because I was side-tracked by this boy but now I may have to look in other directions."

Connelly was the only player with the Diamonds not to sign a new contract this summer, though it was revealed he still had a season to run under his current terms.

The tracking of the versatile attacker, who first impressed the City management in the four-team tournament at Bootham Crescent last month, has taken several twists and turns since then.

Airdrie, who kicked off their own campaign with a goalless draw against Clydebank at their new Shyberry Excelsior Stadium on Tuesday, are reluctant to part with Connelly for anything less than their £100,000 price tag.

Vice-chairman Campbell Craig put City's new offer to his fellow directors at a board meeting on Tuesday. He said: "We don't want to lose the boy because the potential he has got is vast. Put in the proper shop window he could go places."

Keen to cement existing good relations between both clubs Craig added: "If the boy was going to go anywhere we would have loved him to have gone to York."

Craig likened the winger, who thrives as an outright wideman, or as wing-back, in character to striker Steve Cooper, Airdrie's £60,000 recruit from City four years ago.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.