YORK City chief Terry Dolan will not be rushing to fill the goalkeeping void left by Marlon Beresford's departure to Burnley, writes Dave Stanford.

And that could leave the door open for a surprise return to Bootham Crescent for Russell Howarth, who is currently with the England Under-21 squad.

With Beresford now back at Turf Moor, Alan Fettis, City's player of the season for the last two years, will make his first senior start this term at Bury tonight.

The fact Dolan has a fit Fettis raring to go means the City chief is not too perturbed by Beresford's decision to sign for Burnley, if not a little aggrieved in the manner it came about.

"There will only be one change to the starting line-up and that is in goal but it is not a bad change when someone like Alan Fettis can come in," said the City boss, who has also added Scott Jones and Levent Yalcin to the squad.

Dolan said he was aware Beresford was planning to hold talks with Burnley yesterday, but revealed no-one from the First Division outfit, or Beresford himself, had called to tell him of the outcome.

"I was in the dark about it but needless to say Alan is ready to take his place," said the City chief, who received confirmation of Beresford's switch from the Evening Press.

First-year professional shot-stopper John Collinson will be on the bench tonight, but Dolan confirmed he was in no rush to bring in a more experienced goalkeeper as cover for Fettis.

And while there is no suggestion the City manager is desperate to bring Howarth back into the fold, nor did he dismiss the possibility of the 20-year-old eventually returning.

"We will just have to wait and see what happens with Russell," said Dolan.

"At the moment, John Collinson is our second-choice 'keeper but we still have Russell who is still registered with us."

Despite his call-up to the England U21 squad to face Yugoslavia in Bolton tonight, Howarth's career is currently riven by uncertainty.

Proposed moves to Wolves and Tottenham have fallen through while Howarth appeared to burn his bridges at City when he refused to play in a pre-season friendly against Sunderland.

City continue to pay his wages, however, so as to guarantee a transfer fee should he eventually move.

Speaking from the England camp today, Howarth said he would be concentrating on sorting out his domestic future next week.

Howarth, who will be on the bench tonight, said: "Obviously, the transfer deadline has limited things for me but hopefully getting into the U21 squad will make people take notice and it is certainly a good shop window."

Howarth again did not rule out a possible return to City.

"I just want to play and the last eight weeks have been a bit of a nightmare. I've not been able to settle and I just want to get something sorted," he added.

Despite England U21 boss David Platt confirming Liverpool's Chris Kirkland will start in goal, Howarth said his call-up to the international fold had been a massive boost.

"It has been quality and I've really enjoyed it," he said.

"It has come at a good time because obviously your confidence does get knocked after what's happened.

"But the training has been really good and I've felt really sharp."

Should Howarth feature tonight he will be only the second player in City's history to win an England U21 cap after Richard Cresswell was picked for the young lions in 1999.

Updated: 12:31 Friday, September 06, 2002