EXETER City will welcome York City to St James Park tomorrow, having dropped out of the Conference's top five for the first time this season.

The Grecians have occupied a play-off position, at least, for the first six months of the season but back-to-back defeats against Burton (2-0) and Accrington (3-1) have seen the Devon club slip to seventh.

Exeter won their first four matches of the season and were unbeaten in their opening eight fixtures, but Alex Inglethorpe's men have taken just four points from their last six Conference outings.

Their recent poor sequence has also included losses to Aldershot (1-0) and Hereford (2-1), while the Grecians were held to a 2-2 draw by Morecambe and managed their only win in half-a-dozen Conference matches against Gravesend (1-0).

Exeter have been beaten five times at home in the league this season against Accrington, Hereford, Canvey Island, Grays and Burton and have also tasted defeat at St James Park in the FA Cup against Stevenage.

Manager Inglethorpe has recently been under fire for long-ball tactics and is hoping to avoid a hat-trick of league losses tomorrow, highlighting City's 26-goal striking partnership as his team's main concern.

He said: "Clayton Donaldson and Andy Bishop are a handful up front. It's a great partnership and could cause us problems. They both scored last weekend too."

City's defence will need to contend with Exeter's top scorer Lee Phillips, who has netted ten times in 25 starts this season.

Former Wrexham forward Jake Edwards is likely to be his striking partner having returned from a prolific loan spell at Conference rivals Tamworth, where he hit the target seven times in 12 games, although Craig Farrell is hoping for a recall having been dropped from the starting line-up.

Veteran target man Steve Flack, who is now 34, has been introduced as a substitute 18 times this season and is expected to be named on the bench again tomorrow.

Right-sided midfielder Wayne Carlisle and centre-back Gary Sawyer are expected to return after missing the Burton match with minor injuries.

City match points

Exeter v City

IN 19 visits to St James Park (18 Football League/one Conference) City have never drawn, having won six times and lost on 13 occasions.

They have won 1-0 on their last two visits. In 2002/03 Lee Cook, on loan from Watford, was the scorer and last season Dave Merris was the man on the mark.

City's heaviest reverse on this ground was 5-0 in 1968/69. Players to have appeared for both clubs include John Edgar, Barry Pierce, Brian Joy, Hugh Atkinson and Tom Kelly, while a managerial link is provided by Bobby Saxton.

City's line-up on February 22, 2005 in the corresponding game last term was: Porter, Law, Maloney, Groves, Davies, P D Robinson, Webster, Donovan, Dunning, Merris, Bishop.

It Happened on February 18

1956: City lost 3-1 at Rochdale after taking the lead through Billy Fenton. It was the sixth League game without a win and the club were 14th in Division Three (North).

1961: In front of 8,311 City beat Oldham Athletic at Bootham Crescent to move up to fifth in Division Four. Peter Wragg was the scorer and making his debut was left-winger Wally Gould from Sheffield United.

1984: City strengthened their lead at the top of Division Four with a 3-0 home win over Northampton Town watched by 3,941. The marksmen were Keith Walwyn, Brian Pollard (pen) and John Byrne.

1986: In a fifth round FA Cup replay City lost 3-1 to Liverpool after extra time at Anfield. Tony Canham was the scorer and the attendance was 29,362.

1989: City lost 1-0 at Bootham Crescent to Tranmere Rovers and were 15th in Division Four. The attendance was 2,923 and it was the first home defeat since September - a run of ten games.

1995: A 4-2 defeat at Birmingham City in front of 14,486. Paul Baker and Jon McCarthy were on target and City were 13th in Division Two (League One).

Statistics supplied by David Batters

Updated: 10:36 Friday, February 17, 2006