SPOILT for choice York City chief Terry Dolan looks ready to revert back to little after large for Saturday's Bootham Crescent clash with Scunthorpe.

Dolan admitted he was heartened by last night's highly creditable 0-0 draw in the second leg of their first round Worthington Cup clash at Stoke City's Britannia Stadium.

The result saw the Potters cruise through to the second round of the competition 5-1 on aggregate, but York were the better side last night and unlucky not to win.

According to Dolan, it was only a lack of a cutting edge in and around their opponents' goal that prevented the Minstermen from claiming victory.

And the City chief inferred that top scorer Peter Duffield, who missed last night's match through injury, and David McNiven, who was on the bench as John Williams and Colin Alcide earned their first starts of the season, will be recalled for Saturday.

"We had enough chances to get one or two goals and the disappointing thing is we didn't take them," said Dolan.

"Everything about our game, up until the last third of the pitch, was good; we stopped them from playing, our approach play was good but our execution was poor.

"On two or three occasions we haven't even hit the target but when we did the keeper made a great save to deny Barry Conlon's header.

"Maybe the one person who might have put one or two chances away was not playing; Peter Duffield.

"Certainly, in the first-half when we had two or three half-chances around the six-yard box we didn't put them away and Peter perhaps would have."

Dolan explained: "When you have got John Williams or Colin Alcide there you have got the alternative of the ball in the air, or with John the ball over the top.

"But with David and Peter playing together I think we are more dangerous when we get the ball into the penalty area.

"That was our failing at Stoke, because we could have won by three or four with the chances we had. So it is disappointing we didn't get at least one because it would have been nice to have won the game."

Dolan admitted, apart from City's failure to get on the scoresheet, he was happy with his side's performance and a result which stretched their unbeaten run to four games.

"I think the players will gain confidence from a clean sheet against a team from a higher division and it sets us up nicely for Scunthorpe.

"We knew it was going to be difficult as a tie when we were 5-1 down after the first leg.

"Some people might say Stoke weren't firing on all cylinders, but I think we deserve a bit of credit for stopping them from playing.

"We wanted to show we were not 5-1 worse than them and so from that point of view I am pleased.

"If you keep clean sheets you have a chance of winning football matches and a clean sheet away from home carries on the work we have been doing since we played Stoke at home in the first leg."

Aside from Williams and Alcide, the City boss also gave first starts of the season to Matt Hocking and Marc Thompson and Dolan admitted he was pleased to have so many options.

"Marc Thompson has got 70-odd minutes under his belt, Matty Hocking has come in and done well and Lee Bullock has had 90 minutes so we have got players now in the squad who if they do come in we know they can do a job."

dave.stanford@ycp.co.uk

PICTURE: HIGH AND MIGHTY: York's Colin Alcide challenges Stoke's Mikael Hansson last night but the big men may find they have to play second fiddle to the little men in manager Terry Dolan's planning