YORK City boss Billy McEwan is calling on his players to learn from their mistakes as they travel to Morecambe this afternoon.

The Minstermen face their fellow play-off contenders on the back of Friday night's disappointing 1-0 home defeat against Woking.

A mass brawl that saw substitute James Dudgeon and substituted left-back Nathan Peat sent off along with Woking coach Matt Crossley in injury time detracted from the action on the pitch but McEwan has been concentrating on the footballing lessons City can take from their fifth home defeat of the season ahead of today's seaside trip.

Craig Farrell missed an excellent first-half chance to fire City ahead against Woking before the visitors snatched victory after 81 minutes with their first shot on target from Jamie Taylor following an Emmanuel Panther error.

But McEwan regarded both incidents as honest mistakes and is backing his team to recover for the Christie Park clash.

He said: "If we give Morecambe a lift like we did Woking on Friday then we will have problems but we have players with character and I know they can play a lot of better. They put a lot of effort into the Woking game and they have now got to lick their wounds and bounce back."

About Farrell's miss, McEwan added: "The lad does not miss intentionally and, with that chance, he probably panicked but it's a team game and we had other situations to score. At the other end, we have got to learn there are areas where you don't take risks because we took one against Woking and their lad took his goal well."

McEwan is also looking for an improvement in the officials on duty at Morecambe today to avoid heading for an asylum in the New Year.

He said: "I though we were denied a stonewall penalty on Darryn Stamp against Woking and it was an unbelievable decision but the longer I am in this league the more I think I will end up in the nut house."

It will be the Minstermen's second trip to Christie Park in a matter of weeks, having lost there 2-1 in the FA Trophy on December 16.

Morecambe v City match points

Compiled by David Batters

City have lost on their two Conference visits to Christie Park.

In 2004/05, in a live televised game, they went down 2-1 with Lev Yalcin the Minstermen's marksman from long-range.

Last term they were beaten 2-0. The line-up on November 26, 2005 was: Porter (Stockdale), Price, Horwood, McGurk, Andrews, Convery (O'Neill), Barwick, Bertos, Dunning, Donaldson, A Bishop.

  • IT HAPPENED ON JANUARY 1

1954: City won 3-1 at Darlington with goals from Dave Dunmore (2) and Campbell Burgess. It was their first away win of the season and lifted the club off the bottom of the Northern Section.

1955: A 2-1 win at top-of-the-table Scunthorpe United with Norman Wilkinson and Billy Fenton on target. The attendance at the Old Show Ground was 10,593 and City, with just one defeat in 16 games, were sixth in Division Three North.

1966: City crashed to a 7-2 defeat at Queens Park Rangers and remained in the bottom four of Division Three (League One). Paul Aimson scored both goals for the visitors.

1972: A 0-0 draw at Bootham Crescent against Bolton Wanderers watched by a crowd of 4,467. Without a win in nine games, City once again occupied a place in the relegation zone of the Third Division (League One).

1983: Player-manager Denis Smith (2) and assistant-boss Viv Busby were on the scoresheet in a 5-2 home win over Darlington in front of 3,679. John Byrne netted the other two goals and City were in the top half of Division Four.

1987: City recorded their first win in ten games when they beat Third Division (League One) leaders Middlesbrough at Bootham Crescent watched by 8,611. Martin Butler and Keith Walwyn (2) were the scorers and it was the 100th League win under manager Denis Smith (above right, with his assistant Viv Busby) since his appointment in 1982. City were in the lower reaches in the table.

1994: Paul Barnes was the match winner in a 1-0 victory over Port Vale at Bootham Crescent watched by 5,903, and City were ninth in Division Two (League One).

2003: City lost 3-1 at home to Scunthorpe United and were ninth in Division Three (League Two). Darren Edmondson scored and the attendance was 4,554.