YORK City goalkeeper Tom Evans has vowed not to dwell on his play-off error when he reports back to KitKat Crescent for next season.

A misjudgement by Evans saw Morecambe level the aggregate score on the stroke of half-time during the second leg of their semi-final against the Minstermen.

The Shrimps went on to secure a place at Wembley with Wayne Curtis' second goal of the game and have since taken their place in the Football League with a 2-1 victory over Exeter.

But Evans (pictured) is looking forward with City, rather than back.

Despite City releasing eight players and waiting to hear from out-of-contract midfielders Neal Bishop and Manny Panther, Evans believes the club can launch another promotion challenge next season.

He said: "The players still here are of good quality and I am sure the manager is going to bring in more that will strengthen us."

City stopper Evans, who claimed 22 clean sheets during his first season with the club, admitted his mistake tainted an otherwise satisfying season for the team and himself but he is determined not to let the disappointment linger when the players return for pre-season training in five weeks' time.

Minstermen boss Billy McEwan has exercised a one-year option to extend Evans' contract by a further 12 months and the 30-year-old keeper, speaking for the first time since the play-offs, said: "Unfortunately, as a goalkeeper, you make a mistake and it almost certainly results in a goal.

"It obviously soured the season for me but you can't dwell on it especially during the game."

Evans almost redeemed himself when making a fine double save to deny Curtis before the Morecambe netted the match-winning goal at the third attempt. The former Sheffield United trainee added ruefully: "If their player hadn't scored the second goal then I would have probably made up for the first one but you do your best and sometimes, no matter what you do, it's not good enough."

Doncaster-born Evans, who played nearly 300 games during nine seasons at Scunthorpe, admitted that seeing Morecambe go on to gain promotion from the Conference added to the pain of the semi-final defeat with the realisation of how close the club came to ending three years of non-League football hitting home.

He also feels, however, that the set-back can prove beneficial during the club's 2007-08 campaign, saying: "It makes it harder when the team you came so close to beating go on and get promotion.

"A lot of people would have said the best two teams did not even reach the final and we know we should have gone up. I think we had the best of the first game and the second game was tight so, overall, the result was probably slightly unfair, but that's football.

"Now, it will all be about learning. A lot of our team had not played in games like that before and other sides might be in that position next season but at least we have gained that experience of being in the play-offs and needing results to stay at the top end of the table."