SATURDAY'S victory against Doncaster means we have still only lost one league game out of nine this season at Bootham Crescent and that is pleasing.

If it is the case that this is our last season at Bootham Crescent then we want to go out with a bang.

It's a small ground so you really feel the atmosphere when the home fans get on your side even though, against Doncaster, in terms of numbers of supporters, it was more or less evenly balanced.

We were aware of the good rapport and banter going on between the fans.

You can sense that on the pitch and while the players were giving as good as we got I think we just edged it on the terraces as well.

It does help and I think it makes a big difference when you are kicking towards your home fans in the second half.

You raise your game and you can't pinpoint why that happens but even before I came here I'm sure the team preferred kicking towards the David Longhurst Stand.

We got the penalty at that end on Saturday and it's a bit like what people used to say about the Kop at Anfield sucking the ball into the net.

I think every ground is the same and every home team has their preferred way of kicking.

So if you do get a new stadium it's important to remember these things.

I know from my time at Burnley it was strange when we went to an all-seater stadium and had two new stands put up because the new stand that replaced the equivalent of the Longhurst Stand here had a strange atmosphere.

They put the away fans in the stand behind the goal where we came out from the changing rooms so it was a bit intimidating. We came out of the tunnel and were getting coins thrown at us and spat at in our own ground. At full time, if you had got a result, it was not the best end to be leaving the pitch!

They still haven't changed it despite the players' concerns.

I think currently at Bootham Crescent we have become more relaxed with familiar surroundings because we have been doing so well here for a while now.

You take that confidence into games and it becomes second nature because winning and losing is like that in football.

Runs of results become habits and I think that's what's happening at Bootham Crescent.

We were so disappointed that we did not win or get something against Barnsley and I think that's a measure of how far we have come.

It's now just a case of making sure we do it away from home because we have three games on our travels out of the next four.

In terms of performances, we have done well in the last couple of away games but now we need to turn those draws into wins and string a run of results together because we want a gap to start forming and make sure we are in the top end if the division splits into two halves.

Updated: 10:07 Thursday, November 20, 2003