YORK City boss Billy McEwan put his fate in the hands of the club's board after the disappointing 3-1 Blue Square Premier home defeat against Salisbury City.

The Minstermen have now lost eight of their 12 KitKat Crescent clashes this season and McEwan was frank about his position at the club after Saturday's loss.

City fell behind after five minutes against a Salisbury side without a win in nine matches and, despite a first-half Paul Brayson equaliser, McEwan's men went down to two poorly-conceded goals after the interval.

The City boss, pictured, said: "It's a very frustrating job at the moment. I feel for the fans coming and paying their hard-earned cash to see the team get beaten and, aside from one or two moans, I thought they were great in general.

"There's not much else I can do. I'm trying my best and the players are trying their best.

"If I'm not good enough, then they will have to get somebody else in if they can do a better job. It's up to them, but 16 points from eight games was a great haul going into this game."

After further reflection, McEwan then added: "It's easy to say there's nothing else to do, but there is. We've got to go back to the training ground, keep learning and get better."

The City boss, meanwhile, lamented "circus" defending as City slumped to defeat. Matt Tubbs opened the scoring direct from a free-kick conceded by Darren Kelly.

Midfielder Wayne Turk then put the visitors back ahead when 'keeper Tom Evans could only parry a strike on goal from Matt Robinson and an unchallenged Marvin Brown headed in Liam Feeney's corner after Evans had vacated his net.

McEwan said: "Christmas came early for Salisbury as we gifted them goals. The second one was something out of a circus and the build-up to it was not very good from our point of view.

"We gave away an unnecessary, careless foul for the first goal and you can only keep telling players not to do that. If they can't stop doing it, it's a problem.

"The third goal was poor defending from a set-play. The goalkeeper shouted for it, so it was his fault.

"We are committing hara-kiri because teams are not having to work hard to beat us. Set plays came back to haunt us, as they were doing early in the season.

"The players were told not to give away silly free-kicks as Salisbury thrive on balls into the box and long throws because of their height."

McEwan also cited missed chances as a reason for City's downfall on Saturday. Striker Craig Farrell failed to convert two early second-half opportunities and McEwan said: "We had a player clear through in the first minute after half-time with only the 'keeper to beat, but he didn't put the ball in and the same happened a minute later."

The City manager made one change to the side that started last weekend's 1-0 FA Cup home defeat to Havant and Waterlooville.

Leading scorer Onome Sodje was left on the bench with Nicky Wroe starting in a 4-3-3 formation, which reverted back to 4-4-2 for the second half.

About his selection decision, McEwan, pictured, said: "I wanted to go with a different set-up, tactics wise. It was doing okay and you make decisions sometimes watching players in training.

"Onome's only a kid and I felt he needed a wee break. We decided to go with a bit more experience."