JAMES Dudgeon's decisive goal against Woking last night was hailed as "fit to win any match" by York City manager Billy McEwan.

The Minstermen climbed into second place in the Conference table after the former Worksop Town defender powered an unstoppable header past Woking goalkeeper Shwan Jalal from Mark Convery's corner to complete a 2-1 victory.

Dudgeon was making his debut in place of suspended skipper Mark Hotte and McEwan was delighted with the 24-year-old centre-back's contribution.

The City boss said: "His goal was a fantastic header - fit to win any game and the roof nearly came off the stadium with the roar from our fans, which was great. He did well considering he hasn't played since our pre-season game against Sheffield Wednesday three weeks ago.

"I couldn't get any of the defenders I wanted to bring in, so we took a bit of a gamble on James because of his lack of match fitness. His team-mates helped him along a bit but he did well.

"He's a big, strong boy and we knew that when we took him he would take a while to get himself properly fit because he's been a part-time player.

"We know of him from his days at Barnsley when he was a young player who looked like he was going places. I think he just needs three or four months of proper training now to get back to that."

McEwan also praised Andy Bishop for equalising from the penalty spot just 17 minutes after coming on as a substitute.

Bishop has now scored in two successive matches after climbing off the bench as he continues his recovery from a summer knee operation.

Prior to the match, Clayton Donaldson and Mark Convery had both volunteered their spot-kick services if normal taker Bishop was not on the field, but last season's leading scorer had no hesitation in accepting responsibility when Mark Tilling pointed to the spot after Woking striker Justin Richards' inexplicable handball.

McEwan said: "Andy Bishop struck the penalty fantastically well for somebody who had come on so late in the game. We owe him for that. We also owe a lot to our goalkeeper Chris Porter because he made a few saves for us as well."

The City manager praised the whole team for showing the character to secure victory after falling behind to Richards' 58th-minute overhead kick.

He said: "To come back after conceding a goal against a good team like Woking displayed fantastic attitude and commitment. Woking set their stall out by playing just one man in front and a lot of teams might do that here now."

Updated: 10:23 Saturday, August 27, 2005