YORK City boss Chris Brass has conceded that his side currently lack that little bit extra to become Division Three promotion contenders.

Brass, speaking after last night's 4-1 home drubbing against play-off hopefuls Lincoln, made no excuses for the defeat and reluctantly admitted that a run of one point from a possible 18 has illustrated that the Minstermen are perhaps not ready to move up a division this season.

City are now 11 points adrift of the final play-off place, occupied by Lincoln, and Brass said: "In recent weeks against the teams in the play-off and promotion places have shown that they have that bit extra over us and we have to show that we can do that in the future. Lincoln are a well-organised side and are deservedly at the right end of the table."

Last night's defeat was City's third in succession at Bootham Crescent and was met with boos by certain sections of the home crowd.

But Brass has called on his players to recapture their self-belief with his side's five defeats in the last six matches coming against promotion-chasing quintet Lincoln, Mansfield, Hull, Huddersfield and Northampton.

He said: "I do not know if 4-1 painted the right picture and what I do not want now is the players going into their shells and thinking all of a sudden they have become bad players. There are some good players at this club and a lot of potential.

"We are capable of progressing through the league but that may not be this season now. I will take all the flak and continue to protect the boys in the dressing room."

Brass revealed that skipper Darren Edmondson insisted that he was wrongly penalised for the 44th-minute penalty converted by Paul Mayo that opened the floodgates for three more second-half goals but did not blame referee Paul Robinson for the defeat, saying: "Darren went up with Marcus Richardson but, at half-time, he said he did not touch him.

"I had my back to it and didn't see it. It took the wind out of our sails but that's no excuse for what happened afterwards.

"You get bad decisions. That's the way it will be until the last football is kicked on this earth. We went a bit gung-ho and lost some discipline after the second goal when we needed to settle down for five minutes and we must learn from that."

Brass also refused to attribute the defeat to the absence of defender Chris Smith with his teenage replacement Sean Davies one of the few players to come out of last night's game with any credit.

"We could say we lost shape and balance because of Chris Smith's injury. But that's no excuse," Brass said. "You have to adapt."

"We are all footballers and know what's expected of each other. It was disappointing to lose him but gave us a positive because it showed that Sean Davies can do it.

"He did well and I think he's one for the future. He's a good defender and showed what he is all about especially in the first half when we played as a tight four and dealt with everything they threw at us.

"Lev Yalcin also showed promise again and Lee Nogan gets a lot of credit for working tirelessly and not getting a lot of joy."

Updated: 10:54 Wednesday, February 18, 2004