York City boss Billy McEwan is demanding that the club's fans do not desert their team during its first blip of the season.

McEwan was left astonished that last Saturday's home crowd for the 1-0 home defeat against Burton Albion dropped by more than a thousand after the previous weekend's 3-0 FA Cup exit to Grays Athletic at KitKat Crescent.

The City manager is hoping that a mix-up which saw the match advertised as being postponed on BBC Teletext was a major contributing factor towards a disappointing attendance of 2,411, along with the game being hastily re-arranged after being rained off five days earlier.

McEwan will be more alarmed if a similar-sized gate attends City's next scheduled home match with Stevenage Borough on Tuesday, December 13 but admitted he was still puzzled by last weekend's following, warning the stay-away supporters that the finances to build a winning team will only be made possible if they continue to come through the turnstiles.

The City boss said: "I was mystified and thought it was a mistake when I heard the gate against Burton. We went into the game having only lost once all season in the previous game against Grays and had played some good stuff so to drop by that amount was quite staggering.

"That's a lot of revenue we have lost when we are trying to raise funds to build a squad. It was a kick in the guts and I went home on Saturday night feeling disillusioned with York City.

"I stayed loyal to the fans because I did not leave them for a League club but where was the loyalty from the fans who stayed away last Saturday? Some fans only seem to come out when York are top of the league.

"The rest are great but you can't regard yourself as a true fan if you just come out for the glory. The only way I can attract the money needed to bring in the new players is by the supporters coming through the gates.

"I am hoping the drop in attendance was to do with the indecision over the fixture and I'm hoping the 3,500 fans we have been getting stay with us and even more come. If they don't, maybe I'm learning something about York City fans."

Updated: 10:01 Saturday, November 19, 2005