YORK CITY goalkeeper Mark Ovendale will miss the final home game with Leyton Orient on May 1 after being sent off in the final minute against Cheltenham on Saturday.

He received his red card for denying Robins striker Paul Brayson a clear goalscoring opportunity and conceding a last-minute penalty.

City player-boss Chris Brass did not argue with Hull referee Carl Boyeson's decision, saying: "The ball got caught under Mark's foot and their player has gone in and taken the ball off him. He then tugged at him and, if he has, then a red card is the letter of the law.

"I'm a bit frustrated because he did quite well in the game. The ban is fustrating for him and for us as we need all hands to the pump now."

Ovendale's error compounded the earlier damage done when leading scorer Lee Nogan scored an own goal, crashing an attempted clearance into the roof of the net.

Brass believes his assistant's mistake was not helped by a lack of communication from his team-mates.

He said: "From where I stood it looked like we had six of our defenders around the ball not under any kind of pressure and that's down to communication again, which is something we keep harping on about. It would have made it easier if someone had told him or somebody had stepped forward and cleared it.

"It was a disappointing goal as was the reaction afterwards. On Tuesday night we went back at it in a positive manner."

Brass also explained his reasons for replacing Liam George after 62 minutes, which was met with a chorus of boos and cries of "You don't know what you're doing" from sections of the home crowd.

He said: "Liam was shattered. He's been out for five months and was tired at half-time.

"You want to get 90 minutes out of him because he's somebody who can change the game but the lad was shot and you don't want to lose him for the season. Fingers crossed, he will now be OK for the Yeovil match."

Updated: 11:14 Monday, April 19, 2004