YORK City boss Billy McEwan will not sacrifice his footballing principles in the pursuit of points this season.

McEwan is expecting an "ugly" encounter against a physical and direct Tamworth side at the Lamb Ground tonight but emphasised that the Minstermen will continue attempting to play attractive football.

The City manager even alluded that it is his duty as a Scotsman, working in England, to educate people in his adopted country.

He said: "Billy Bremner, Kenny Dalglish and Bobby Collins were all brought down here to teach you lot how to play football and the master - Sir Alex Ferguson - is still in charge of Manchester United after 18 years.

"There's a philosophy that if you are winning it doesn't matter how you play but I prefer a short, passing game.

"We want to treat our fans to a good game at Tamworth and in every match to reward them for spending their hard-earned cash.

"If times are dire then you might need to scrap for every point and shut up shop but I'm a fan of football, like our supporters, and I don't want to be bored to tears.

"I don't want my team to kick the ball up the field and chase it and the teams at the top of the Conference last season like Aldershot, Barnet, Carlisle and Hereford were all footballing teams. The match tonight might be an ugly game because it's a tight pitch and they have some physical players so we will have to be tough."

McEwan is monitoring players for signs of mental weariness as they get used to the pressures of regular first-team football. On-loan striker Jermaine Palmer and skipper Mark Hotte could both come into contention.

The City manager has also instructed Chris Porter to guard against sportsmanship after he believed the goalkeeper's sense of fair play cost the team at Aldershot on Saturday.

McEwan said: "Chris kicked the ball out of his hands for a throw because one of their players was injured. They then kicked the ball out of play instead of returning it to Chris and, even though he made a poor kick, it should have been out of his hands so we lost the game because of that. From now on, he's under orders to kick the ball up the pitch and the referee can award a bounce ball."

Updated: 09:49 Tuesday, September 27, 2005