LEE Bullock and Mike Basham will both go under the surgeon's knife this month as manager Terry Dolan casts one eye to next season.

Central defender Basham will have an ankle operation on Thursday, meaning he will not play again this season.

Bullock will have a similar operation on the following Thursday.

The influential young midfielder was available for today's game with Oxford United at Bootham Crescent and will also be able to play in Saturday's game at Swansea and the home clash with Carlisle on the following Tuesday.

He will, however, miss City's last three games of the season - against Mansfield, Bristol Rovers and Scunthorpe.

The loss of Bullock will be a particular blow for City with the midfielder in a rich vein of goalscoring.

He bagged his second goal in as many matches in the 2-1 defeat at Macclesfield to bring his tally to nine for the season.

"The idea in getting the operations done now is that they will both be right for pre-season," explained Dolan, who hailed Bullock's performance on Saturday as "outstanding".

It is understood the operation will involve repairs to damaged ankle ligaments for both players.

"It means we will probably have to give one or two more youngsters a chance," said the City manager.

First-year trainee Stuart Wise, who has missed City's last few outings after being laid low by a virus, was added to the squad for today's game with Oxford.

Included on the bench at Moss Rose on Saturday was fellow first-year trainee Graeme Laws, who has been a regular in City's reserves this season.

"We weren't quite sure whether Darren Edmondson was going to make it and that was why Graeme was there," explained Dolan.

"Darren came through okay in the end but young Graeme is only a first-year trainee but he has deserved his chance."

Saturday's defeat means City were still not mathematically safe from relegation as they took on Oxford this afternoon.

With Michael Proctor absent, Dolan admitted a lack of a cutting edge had proved City's downfall.

"That sums it up," said Dolan who had seen Bullock's 17th minute opener wiped out within seconds by a Matthew Tipton equaliser.

"In the game as a whole, everybody seemed to be lulled into the weather and it certainly wasn't frantic. We got the goal but didn't hold it for long enough.

"In the second-half we had the majority of the possession but lacked that cutting edge with our final ball again."

A controversial penalty on the hour mark gave Macclesfield the win when Scott Jones was adjudged to have brought down Chris Byrne. The City players insisted any contact was outside the area.

"Everybody was adamant it was outside the box and whether he dived or not is another matter but the referee didn't think he did and he gave it and that is it," said Dolan.

Updated: 11:31 Monday, April 01, 2002