Midfield bite has been snapped up by York City with today's capture of Halifax Town battler Kevin Hulme.

The 31-year-old midfielder completed a free transfer from The Shay to Bootham Crescent to add extra momentum to City's engine-room for tomorrow's visit of Peterborough United.

And the recruitment drive is not over yet, with manager Neil Thompson likely to step up his interest in securing a First Division striker on a month's loan deal next week.

It's the second time within a week Thompson has turned to a Shayman to try to cure the present malaise of being separated from bottom spot in Division Three by just one place.

Seven days ago he paid £25,000 for defensive prop Mark Sertori, who acquitted himself creditably in his debut against Rotherham United.

And considering that fitness-seeking striker Marc Williams was Thompson's first cash buy when caretaker-manager six months ago, City now own a mini-colony of former Halifax Town men.

But Thompson said, like Sertori, Hulme was attuned to what he believes are the greater physical rigours of basement battles.

"I've said we need a physical edge and Kevin is the type of player to give us that," said the City boss. "We need the mix of aggression and the passers. Kevin is combative, gets about and puts his foot in. But he will also get you goals as well."

Thompson said his one-time Halifax crew of Williams, Sertori and Hulme all impressed when they applied an Auto Windscreens knockout to the Minstermen at the Shay last winter.

"I look at that game when we got beat 4-2 and we got bullied out of it. We have to be able to cope better," said Thompson.

Farnworth-born Hulme, who began his career with Bury before spells at Doncaster Rovers, back at Bury, Lincoln City and Halifax, will make his debut against Peterborough.

Who makes way is unknown, but Scott Jordan, Lee Bullock and Andrew Dawson are all nursing knocks. City will also greatly welcome back striker Barry Conlon.

His absence on Eire Under-21 duty left a sizeable void in City's attack in the defeats by Northampton and Rotherham.

Said Thompson: "Barry has got the qualities to get 15 to 20 goals a season and his two goals at Barnet before he went away will have done him good. Hopefully he can carry on from there. We have missed him up front."

Sixth-placed Peterborough are in the middle of a yo-yoing form period as evidenced by their last three games.

After crashing 2-1 at Plymouth the Posh pasted Darlington 4-2 to go into third place.

But those lofty heights faded in frightful fashion when they became the first victims of Mansfield in a Friday night shocker at Drill Field.

Peterborough perished 3-1 to reinforce claims of a nursery-rhyme reputation. When they are good they are good, but when they are bad then they are horrid.

A big blow for Peterborough has been the loss of midfield starlet Simon Davies.

The Welsh under-21 international - coveted by Manchester United among other top clubs - is still missing with a cracked knee bone.

There's doubt, too, about England Under-18 winger Matthew Etherington. He aggravated an ankle injury on international duty against Switzerland and is rated only at 50-50.

Posh boss Barry Fry is expected to give a full debut to his only summer signing, Andy Clarke, a striker signed on a free from Premiership club Wimbledon.

City's youth team - backed by two wins and a draw from their first four outings - travel north tomorrow to face Darlington in the North-East Alliance (ko 11am).

Match Pointers

POSH have made 17 previous visits to Bootham Crescent winning four times and drawing three.

City's biggest win the series is 5-1 in 1988/9 when Ian Helliwell (2), Steve Spooner, Kevin Dixon and Tony Canham were the scorers. In a 3-0 victory in 1969/70 Phil Boyer scored twice.

United's biggest victory at York was 4-0 in 1990/1, and on their first visit in April 1961 a crowd of 11,768 saw them win 1-0. The sides last met here in April 1997 when Gary Bull netted the only goal of the game.

Players to have represented both clubs include goalkeeper Bob Ferguson, defenders Phil Crosby and Darren Bradshaw, winger Andy Curtis and forward David Longhurst.

Tomorrow's Teams

Division Threeat Bootham Crescent

YORK CITY from Mimms, Hocking, Thompson, Jordan, Sertori, Fairclough, Fox, Atkins, J Williams, Rowe, Hall, Howarth, Jones, Bullock, Dawson, Conlon, Hulme.

PETERBOROUGH from Tyler, Hooper, Drury, Chapple, Edwards, Farrell, Broughton, Etherington, Shields, Castle, Clarke, Griemink, Wicks, Koogi, Martin, Scott.

Red card protest to goon as fans snub chairman

Digruntled York City fans are to press on with their red card protest after spurning a meeting with under-fire chairman Douglas Craig, writes Tony Kelly.

The Independent YCFC Supporters group affirmed their intention to 'red-card' Craig in tomorrow's game at home to Peterborough.

They have also issued an open letter to the City chairman outlining measures to be taken to 'demonstrate the club's ambition'. If the group's proposed steps are not implemented then, they say, Craig should resign.

Confirming the group had 'politely declined' Craig's suggestion of a meeting to discuss fans' concerns, spokesman Greg Stone told the Evening Press: "Fans feel that a legitimate, peaceful protest of the type being planned is the best way to highlight our discontent.

"We have been down this route before with the fans' forums, where we did not feel we were listened to."

The fans' group added in the open letter: "We are not hooligans or trouble-makers. We want York City Football Club to succeed as much as anyone. We want to get behind the team - and we want a team we can get behind.

"There is considerable dissent among the fans about the manner in which the club is being run. We are all paying customers. We expect better value for money."

The letter goes on to describe the red-card protest as an appropriate way to express dissatisfaction rather 'than being fobbed off behind closed doors'.

Craig is 'called upon' to :

publicly acknowledge the depth of the current crisis;

demonstrate ambition for the club and make promotion the priority at all costs;

invest transfer income in quality players instead of the current 'asset-stripping' policy;

develop and implement a strategy to improve attendances to the 5,000 mark;

actively seek new investment in the club from suitable sources.

The letter concludes: "We call upon you and your fellow board members to implement these measures at once. If you are not prepared to do so, we feel you should resign, as you will no longer have the confidence of the supporters."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.