GOALKEEPER Mark Ovendale will be one of Chris Brass' main priorities as the City boss enters contract discussions during his enforced lay-off.

Brass now faces a four-match suspension and intends to use the break from playing to settle the futures of key players like Ovendale, who is rumoured to be attracting other interest.

Brass said: "Mark has done well and there's been speculation that one or two clubs are interested in him which is rightly so because he's a decent keeper but he's happy here and somebody we want to tie up, as I will be looking to do with several players while I am suspended."

Brass is also hoping last night's 0-0 draw at Oxford can provide the platform for City to recover their early-season form.

He said: "We gave a performance that earlier in the season we were giving week in, week out. We had a look last week at the video when we played at Oxford and I think one or two have come of age after this match.

"They hit the woodwork a few times and we had a little bit of luck but that's probably for the first time this season. We have got that lovely feeling back in the dressing room and have stopped the rot. That's what we needed to do and that should give us a lot of confidence.

Updated: 10:24 Thursday, March 04, 2004