THE MAN who was last in charge when York City exited the Football League will be attempting to push his old club a step closer to the Conference nine years down the line.

Chris Brass, now 37, joined Gulls boss Alan Knill’s Plainmoor coaching team this week with the pair having worked for Scunthorpe United together earlier in the season and at Bury in the past.

The former Burnley centre-back also enjoyed a loan spell with Torquay from Turf Moor back in 1994.

Brass, who was at the helm when City lost their League status back in 2004 following a run of 20 games without a win before being sacked the following season, will now join Knill and assistant-manager Shaun Taylor in the home dugout tomorrow.

On the appointment of his trusted right-hand man, Knill said: “I’ve known and worked with Chris a long time and I’m pleased that he’s offered to come down.

“Shaun has been great and is very supportive, but Chris was available and I just wanted another pair of eyes to help us.

“There’s so much at stake and any move that can help us to get out of trouble is worth taking.”

Torquay are currently two points ahead of the second-bottom Minstermen following their first win in 12 games – a 2-1 home triumph against Chesterfield in midweek.

That sizeable sequence without a victory had included a spell of seven straight defeats, while the win also brought an end to a dismal run of form at Plainmoor following five consecutive home defeats to Fleetwood (1-0), Rotherham (3-1), Port Vale (1-0), Wycombe (2-1) and Oxford (3-1) during a nine-game win-less spell stretching back to December 1.

Torquay winger Billy Bodin will be unavailable for a second game due to his Wales Under-21s call-up, but defender Aaron Downes is back in contention after serving a two-match suspension.

Former Morecambe and Bristol Rovers powerhouse Rene Howe is the club’s top marksman with 16 goals, although on-loan Notts County midfielder Joss Labadie has netted in the Gulls’ last three games, having only played in four matches since his arrival from Meadow Lane. Both were on target in the midweek toppling of the Spireites.

Those three matches have seen the Devon side put a little unbeaten run of three games together with draws at Dagenham (2-2) and Southend (1-1) preceding the Chesterfield triumph on a night when all four teams who had games in hand over the Minstermen extracted the maximum haul and sent City tumbling into the bottom two for the first time this season.

Torquay (probable): Poke, Oastler, Saah, MacDonald, Cruise, Jarvis, Labadie, Mansell, Chapell, Benyon, Howe.

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Match facts

THE last of City’s 21 Football League trips to Torquay was on December 13, 2003 when Lee Nogan scored in a 1-1 draw.

The line-up was: Ovendale, Edmondson, Smith, Brass, Parkin, Merris, Cooper, Dunning, Bullock, Nogan (Browne), Shaw.

In total, City have won seven times at Plainmoor and drawn on five occasions.

Their last victory was in 2001/2 when they triumphed 3-0 – their biggest win at this venue.

The two Conference visits ended in draws – 0-0 in 2007/8 and 1-1 the following campaign.

Players to have appeared for both clubs include Andy Provan, Micky Cave, Sean Haslegrave, Alan Pearce, Eddie Rowles, Tom Kelly, Paul Baker, Mark Robinson, Anthony Lloyd and Nicky Wroe.

It happened on March 23

1957: Arthur Bottom netted the goal in a 1-0 win over Wrexham at Bootham Crescent in Division Three North watched by 8,374.

1968: A 1-1 draw at Notts County in Division Four with Barry Jackson the scorer.

1982: City crashed to a 5-0 defeat at Northampton Town in the Fourth Division.

1991: Andy McMillan and Glenn Naylor were the marksmen in a 2-0 Fourth Division home win over Burnley in front of an attendance of 4,407 – the biggest Bootham Crescent crowd of the season.

Compiled by David Batters