WHAT a difference three points can make.

City's performance last Friday against Mansfield saw a welcome return of optimism to Bootham Crescent after four successive defeats.

The League table still makes sorry reading and one win doesn't make a summer, but the latest comings and goings should help dispel any doubts about the York City regime and manager Terry Dolan.

After the defeat at Hartlepool last month the first faint grumblings of discontent against the City chief could be heard.

But Dolan has never dallied in his attempt to strengthen City - bringing in the likes of Alan Fettis, Peter Swan, Darren Edmondson, Peter Hawkins and Mark Bower at the end of last term to plug a leaking defence.

No-one could argue with the quality of those incumbents and proved Dolan's football contacts are vast.

With many of the squad he inherited on long contracts, Dolan's rebuilding was always going to take longer than success-starved fans would like.

But he managed to pull more aces out of the hat with the recent acquisition of Alex Mathie - a proven goalscorer coveted by a number of other clubs - and winger Keiron Durkan to supply the ammunition.

Durkan's arrival from Macclesfield on a month's loan is a case in point.

Past City managers had claimed out-and-out wingers of true quality were hard to find.

But Dolan brought to an end a seemingly impossible task less than 48 hours after admitting he needed to bolster the supply line to the forwards.

The arrivals continued this week in the form of Neville Stamp and at this rate the City squad will soon be very much in Dolan's making.

Only then can the Dolan-effect be truly measured.

But his quick-fire transfer dealings so far have yielded much-needed quality and for that he must be applauded and rewarded with patience.

THE famous York Five - the band of City fans who have reached the third round of the Worthington Fives national five-a-side competition - have been drawn to face the might of the Premiership.

The York outfit will play their counterparts from Aston Villa on Sunday, October 29, in Nottingham.

The York team comprehensively beat Stoke City in the first round and received a walkover in round two when their opponents, Newcastle United, failed to turn up.

The final will be played as a curtain raiser before the Worthington Cup final on Sunday, February 25.

The Minstermen's links with sponsors Portakabin have reached a notable landmark.

This season marks the tenth anniversary of the association - probably one of the longest runnning links in the League.

Thanking Portakabin's chief executive, Patrick Shepherd, City chairman Douglas Craig said: "It's a great honour for the club to have had sponsorship from Portakabin for a continuous period of ten years.

"Not only are they a prestigious local firm but they are renowned throughout the world for the quality of their products."

THE York City Travel Club is now taking bookings for the Minstermen's trip to Lincoln on Tuesday and Halifax on October 24.

For Lincoln, the coaches depart Bootham Crescent at 4.30pm and places cost £10 members and £12 non-members.

Just a handful of the 100 limited edition City blue shirts can still be obtained. Orders should be placed at the City club shop.

Tickets are also now available for a City Reds fireworks night at Bootham Crescent on Wednesday, November 1. The event is free to City Reds but tickets, which can be obtained from the club shop, are limited.

York City Supporters' Club's membership drive is approaching the 650-mark.

The club is aiming to recruit 1,500 supporters and so earn a place on the City board for a fans' representative.

The membership total this week stood at 632.

Stripped for action thanks to City

YORK College's Football Academy is stripped for glory thanks to York City FC.

The Academy, now in its second year and boasting 36 students for this season, has taken delivery of a new training kit donated by City.

The club also backs the course with footballs and coaching sessions by youth coaches Paul Stancliffe and Brian Neaves.

The Academy, run by former Minstermen favourite Gordon Staniforth, also uses City's Wig-ginton road training complex for home matches and training.

"We have a great relationship with the club," said Staniforth, who is hopeful some of his students will push through to the City youth team this season.

The students all have to take an academic course at the college, but at all other times are under Staniforth's direction for coaching, matches and additional courses, like the FA Treatment of Injuries and the FA coaching Certificate.