PERHAPS the tannoy announcer at Whaddon Road knew something.

With the sale of the club believed to be imminent it seemed quite appropriate to herald in bright new dawn with the dulcet tones of Frank Sinatra and "New York, New York" just moments before kick-off.

But while off the field City may be on the verge of a fresh beginning, back on the pitch it was sadly, disappointingly, a case of old York, old York.

At least in losing to Luton and Plymouth in their last two outings City gave a good account of themselves and were unfortunate not to have taken at least a point from each game.

But against Cheltenham on Saturday there could be no excuses and very few crumbs of comfort for City fans to savour.

No-one wants to see a team of cloggers but again it was no coincidence that away from home City conceded just four free-kicks. Without a mean streak or at least a willingness to get their hands dirty the Minstermen got what they deserved.

In a particularly impoverished second-half showing, it was back to winter's darkest days with the sort of performance that made you grateful only for the fact Halifax are so far adrift at the bottom.

Surprisingly given the final result, City started the brighter of the two teams.

For the opening 20 minutes they looked composed and settled at the back, retained possession well and were generally bright and purposeful.

Cheltenham's opening goal on 22 minutes then was probably against the run of play and contained more than an element of good fortune for the Robins.

The towering Julian Alsop got in front of Gary Hobson to glance Chris Banks' cross against the post with the feintest of touches.

The ball looked to be rebounding back into the arms of a prone Alan Fettis but after taking a bounce spun away from the City goalkeeper and across the line.

Four minutes later and Cheltenham came close to doubling their advantage as Jamie Victory side-footed Tony Naylor's cross wide from six yards.

From being slick and assured, City were suddenly rag-tag and untidy.

Their only genuine chance of the half came on 34 minutes when Lee Nogan seized on a bad pass, drew a Cheltenham defender and released Michael Proctor in the clear.

City's top goal-scorer hadn't played for two weeks and it showed. With just Steve Book to beat Proctor took one touch too many and the Cheltenham shot-stopper was able to save with his feet.

While City had at least competed in the first half the second proved a different story as a rampant Robins ran riot. Particularly galling was the fact City let them.

Fettis produced the first of a flurry of saves to turn Victory's low shot from the edge of the area around the post then showed remarkable reflexes to deny Naylor's close-range blast.

But the City goalkeeper's heroics were merely delaying the inevitable and on 63 minutes Cheltenham got their second.

From a cross from the left, Fettis produced two brave blocks at the feet of John Finnigan but with the City defence static Alsop reacted quickest to carefully lift the ball over the City shot-stopper and into the net.

City rarely ventured into Cheltenham's half and when they did the ball rarely stuck. It was always a Robin head or leg that got to the ball first.

They created just one genuine chance with, to be fair, a very good move. Jon Parkin sent Chris Brass racing away down the right with a superb ball out of defence.

The City skipper delivered a first-time cross to the near post but from a tight-angle Alex Mathie could only lift the ball just over the meeting of post and bar.

Ten minutes before the end, Cheltenham made it 3-0. City had enough chances to clear Lee Williams' cross but substitute Leigh Wood's header fell to Mark Yates loitering on the edge of the area and the Cheltenham midfielder crashed the ball home with a fierce volley.

Fettis denied Alsop a hat-trick by pushing away his thunderous header but Cheltenham didn't have long to wait before adding a fourth.

Naylor shrugged off Hobson just inside the City area, twisted this way and that before teeing up Finnigan to stroke the ball home from eight yards.

City had not just had their fingers burned. They had been roasted.

York City

York City: Fettis 7, Hocking 7, Parkin 7, Hobson 5, Potter 5, Richardson 5, Brass 6, Bullock 5 (Wood 46m, 6), Nogan 6, Mathie 5, Proctor 5

Subs, not used: R Howarth, Smith, O'Kane, Darlow

Bookings: None

Sent-off: None

Cheltenham

Book, Griffin, Duff, Banks, Walker, Williams (N Howarth 90m), Finnigan, Yates, Victory, Alsop (Grayson 90m), Naylor (Brough 90m)

Subs, not used: Higgs, Devaney

Bookings: None

Sent-off: None

Attendance: 3,958

Referee: Paul Taylor (Hertfordshire)

Updated: 10:35 Monday, March 11, 2002