YORK City boss Terry Dolan was today stepping up his search for an experienced shot-stopper with Hull City claiming they expected to finally seal the transfer of Alan Fettis.

Hull boss Peter Taylor has said he would be "amazed" if Fettis did not put pen to paper on a two and a half year deal today.

City boss Dolan is understood to have targeted a replacement in Sunderland's Michael Ingham, although there are no guarantees a deal, if any, will be completed in time for Saturday's derby clash at Hull.

If no deal can be done, Dolan will almost certainly turn to City's second choice goalkeeper John Collinson to fill the void.

Although Collinson has no first-team experience the youngster is highly rated by the coaching staff at City.

An indication that Collinson is in Dolan's thoughts for the weekend came with the news first year trainee goalkeeper David Stockdale played for City's reserves last night in their 4-1 defeat to the Tigers. Aiden O'Kane netted for City.

It is not clear whether Fettis, should his move to Hull be completed, will line-up for the Tigers against City on Saturday.

Sources close to the Tigers say administrators running the Minstermen have given the green light for the signing to go ahead without any restrictions.

However, Taylor said he may well keep faith with Hull's current number one, Paul Musselwhite.

Taylor intends to hold talks with Fettis before deciding whether to include him in his plans for the City game.

He added: "If it wasn't York, I would be happy to go for it but I want to see how the player feels about things before making a decision."

The loss of Fettis will be a major blow to City supporters, who have crowned him their player of the season in each of the two previous campaigns.

However, the Northern Ireland international, who began his career in English football with Hull, is reportedly one of the club's highest wage earners and his departure may well ease the club's considerable financial problems.

Updated: 13:00 Thursday, January 23, 2003