by Dave Stanford

YORK City midfielder Lee Bullock is adamant the Minstermen are ready to dish out a tonking.

City will be looking to pile on the misery on bottom club Carlisle United tonight while trying to avoid an unwanted hat-trick of straight defeats.

Despite the disappointment of Saturday's 2-1 home reverse to Luton, the increasingly influential Bullock reckons City are ripe to turn a Third Division rival over sooner rather than later.

"On Saturday we have hit the bar twice and made a lot of chances and they have just not gone in.

"One day it will click and some team will be in for a hiding," Bullock told the Evening Press.

"It won't be easy and we would happily settle for a 1-0 but it would be nice to stick a few past Carlisle.

"We have got a few players like Lee Nogan and Michael Proctor and myself who can score now and at least we are creating plenty of chances and on our day I think we can beat anyone."

He added: "We were very unlucky against Luton and deserved at the very least a point.

"The lads are disappointed but we have got to take heart from the performance.

"It means we can go into tonight's game with confidence and know that if we can play like we did on Saturday we have every chance of beating Carlisle."

Another factor behind Bullock's growing confidence was the return of wing-play to Bootham Crescent and in particular the impressive debut of teenager Marc Salvati as a half-time substitute against the Hatters.

"'Sal is a good player, has a great touch and can whip a great ball into the box which obviously helps the attackers," enthused Bullock.

"He showed on Saturday he is calm on the ball when he slotted the disallowed goal away."

And another major boost reasoned Bullock was the fleeting return of Christian Fox, who made his first senior appearance in eight months on Saturday.

Although Fox is unlikely to start tonight, Bullock is clearly relishing the chance to link-up with the fellow 20-year-old in the not too distant future.

"Having Foxy back is a massive boost for us," reasoned Bullock.

"If he gets to the form he was before, we know in midfield if we can get the ball to Foxy he can beat three men and get a cross in the box.

"We have good wingers there who can put great balls into the box so hopefully myself, Brassy (Chris Brass), Nogs (Lee Nogan) or Proc (Michael Proctor) can get in the box and finish them."

Updated: 12:01 Tuesday, September 18, 2001