THE only consolation in York City's 1-0 defeat at Tamworth on Saturday was the return of Steve Davis to the starting line up.

It was a personal case of hip, hip hooray for Davis despite the defeat as he reported no recurrance of the problem that has kept him sidelined for the last six months.

Davis completed his first 90 minutes in the Conference since a hip operation and said afterwards: "It's been a long time since my last game so, on a personal level, it was very nice to be back and get through the game okay but I was disappointed with the result."

The former Burnley defender admitted that City's failure to pass the ball and create chances against a tall, powerful team was the biggest reason for their defeat at the Lamb Ground.

He said: "The pitch was bobbly and not really condusive to playing decent football. We passed the ball a little bit but perhaps not as much as the manager would have liked.

"You could see what they were all about. "They were pretty route one with a lot of long throws so it was always going to be an untidy game but we didn't create enough opportunities to get anything out of it.

"They had the two big lads at centre half and we did not move them around enough or get in behind them."

Davis spent large periods of the afternoon heading away long throws from 6ft 2in left-back Jude Stirling and it was a case of renewed acquaintances for City's club captain.

He said: "He was an apprentice when I was at Luton but I almost didn't recognise him because he was like a stick then and is a lot bigger now."

The 36-year-old also pointed out that the Minstermen still need to make relegation an impossibility as well as finish as high up the table as they can, saying: "We still need a win or two to be safe and it's not nice being at this end of the table. We must now try and get a result at Accrington next Monday."

City reserves are in action tonight at KitKat Crescent when they entertain Notts County in a Pontin's Holidays League premier division (7pm).

Updated: 09:59 Monday, March 21, 2005