Terry Dolan admits York City's fight to beat the drop is almost over after a scoreless derby duel with Hull City at Boothferry Park.

But after scaling new heights with yesterday's hard earned point, the City manager immediately threw down the gauntlet to his team and challenged them to go one better than last season.

The point from the derby share-all lifted the Minstermen to 16th place in the Division Three table, their highest position of 2001 and their loftiest perch in more than seven months.

The draw also maintained City's impressive run of just one defeat in 12 and made it a happy return to his former Boothferry Park stomping ground for Dolan.

"It goes without saying we needed that sort of run because everyone else is picking up points," conceded the City chief.

"But with four games to go now if we get something on Saturday against Cardiff we can probably say that we are near enough to being safe.

"I have never said that recently.

"But my aim is to get more points than we got last season so once we get 53 I will be a lot happier."

Goalkeeper Alan Fettis, who also celebrated a clean-sheet on his return to the club where he made his name, admitted the 53-point mark was now at the forefront of his team mates' minds.

"We have got 47 points and it would be difficult for us to be relegated now," he admitted.

"Stranger things have happened but it is in our own hands.

"The manager says he wants to beat last year's total so we will just have to keep going and hopefully get a couple of wins before the end of the season."

Dolan admitted he was more than happy with the point and performance of his players.

Updated: 09:31 Tuesday, April 17, 2001