MICHAEL Coulson has admitted it's been "horrible" hearing supporters calling for York City manager Russ Wilcox's sacking during the last two matches.

The Minstermen chief has been subjected to chants of "You're Getting Sacked in the Morning" and "Wilcox Out" during the 2-1 defeat against Oxford and 2-2 draw with Cambridge.

Now, ahead of a third consecutive Bootham Crescent fixture against Doncaster tonight in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, Coulson has supported his manager's claim that such unrest on the terraces does have an impact on the team's performance during matches.

"It's horrible, really, hearing them singing about that all the time," Coulson said of the barracking of Wilcox. "You can't blank it out because you can hear it all, but I suppose that's football.

"You get it at a lot of clubs and I won't criticise the fans because they pay their money and are entitled to their opinion but I think there's a time and place for it and that's not when we're still playing because that has a negative affect on everybody.

I would also just say bear with us.

"There were signs on Saturday that we were playing good football and I'm sure that given the chance and a bit more time, we will put things right."

City fans vented their frustration at the weekend after watching their team surrender a 2-0 lead following marksman Coulson's replacement with midfielder Ben Godfrey.

Modestly, though, Coulson did not feel his withdrawal was the game's turning point and added that Wilcox had no option but to substitute him just past the hour as he played his first football of the season, other than a 45-minute reserve outing three days earlier.

"I couldn't have stayed on," he admitted. "I had completely gone and didn't expect to play for that long.

"I also felt the game was changing the five minutes before I came off because we couldn't get hold of the ball. For the first hour, even though the fans were telling us to kick the ball forward at times, it was really important to keep it and I thought we did that really well.

"I think we relaxed a bit at 2-0 up though which can be quite a natural thing in football and it's often the team that's losing who apply all the pressure late on. But we have then got to be braver as a team and keep passing the ball instead of just lumping it up the field and giving the ball away, which played into their hands.

"Once you do that, it's hard to get back to how you were playing and we ended up conceding two poor goals."

Coulson's second-half goal was his first at Bootham Crescent since April 2014 and he confessed it was a happy moment as, despite enduring three cruciate ligament injuries in the past, he has struggled to contend with his latest lay-off.

"The ball just fell to me and I volleyed it in, which was very nice because I don't normally connect with the ball that well with my left foot," the 27-year-old winger reasoned. "I didn't score at home all last season, so it was also good to get one on my first game back even though it all felt bitter-sweet after the final result.

"The goal was still a nice reward though because the last couple of months have been very frustrating and I've been working hard at the training ground to get myself right. I've missed being on the pitch a lot.

"I've obviously suffered with injuries in my career before but it felt a bit different this time. It's not been easy watching the lads training every day and going to games because you want to help out.

"I'd had a good run without injuries this time and you learn how to deal with it but you still have good days and bad days."

Coulson also reckons his injury-plagued past might now have made him hardened to the discomfort players experience when coming back from spells on the sidelines and he is in no mood to sit out this evening's game, saying: "Playing with a bit of pain is normal for me now and I'm kind of getting used to it, so I might have to play with a bit of tightness to get it to wear off.

"I need more game time and more minutes under my belt and I'm a footballer who wants to play as much as I can, as long as I'm not doing my body any harm."