York City chief Terry Dolan is adament his Minstermen can build on their FA Cup heroics to kick-start a climb away from the foot of Division Three.

Despite the 2-0 defeat at the hands of Premiership Fulham the City boss was proud of his team for the way they performed

And as he now turns his attention to the visit of his former club Hull City to Bootham Crescent tomorrow night Dolan is wanting more of the same.

"We can build on this," he said.

"The players have got to take confidence from the way that they have played against Fulham and in the last four or five games.

"We haven't got the results that we would have liked but the performances have been steadily increasing and if we continue that I am sure the points will start to come."

Dolan maintained City had got their tactics spot-on, getting bodies behind the ball in the first-half before cranking up the tempo in the second.

He said: "If we had gone out to attack them right from the start of the game we would have been torn apart.

"I thought tactically we got it right and i think Mr Tigana would say the same if you asked him.

"The way the players have performed you cannot have any complaints at all and we gave it a good go.

"We knew with the calibre of the players they have got, we had to be very organised and not go gung-ho into it and for 20 minutes or so we held our own.

"In the second-half i thought we got at them a little bit and we had them rocking for a spell but we just didn't quite get the right break."

(BATCHELOR PIC??? - Mike Tipping)

TERRY Dolan is confident York City will live to fight another day in the FA Cup.

With the club up for sale and having given provisional notice of its intention to quit the Football League at the end of the season, Saturday's 2-0 defeat at the hands of Fulham could be City's last appearance in the Cup.

However, boss Dolan revealed he is "very confident" that City's love affair with the FA Cup will continue for many years to come while maintaining his unswerving belief that City can fight clear of the relegation mire.

But for the first time Dolan also confessed to fearing the boot if new owners take control and look to bring in their own management team.

Potential new owner John Batchelor was an interested spectator at Saturday's game.

Chairman Douglas Craig has refused to confirm or deny that he has held talks with Batchelor, driver-owner of the B&Q Honda Intergrity Racing Team.

However, that fact the motor-racing chief took his seat in the director's box close to Craig suggests he is known to the board.

"I think negotiations are at a fairly advanced stage with a prospective buyer or buyers," said Dolan.

"I understand one of the buyers said he expects everything to be sorted out in the next two or three weeks, if that is the case it is good news for everybody.

"But whoever takes-over is out of our hands.

"We have got to concentrate on getting points. The players want to be playing in professional football next season and I want to be managing in professional football next season

"People were negative in their thoughts when i came here a couple of years ago but we lost just one in the last ten.

"Last season mirrored that and we lost one in the last 13.

"There are 20 games to go and we haven't had a decent run in the team. It's about time we did and we moved on.

Asked whether he feared for his job under new owners, Dolan said: "It certainly has crossed my mind.

"It happened to me four or five years ago at Hull. But that is football, as they say."

Updated: 08:59 Monday, January 28, 2002