IT'S all in the mind for mystified Terry Dolan after York City saw their hopes of progression in this year's Worthington Cup all but vanish at the first hurdle.

The Minstermen suffered a 5-1 defeat at the hands of Stoke City in last night's first round, first leg clash at Bootham Crescent, their third reverse of a sorry start to the season.

It was another hit and miss performance from City who, despite falling behind to an early goal, largely dominated proceedings against their second division opponents in the first half - only to then concede four goals in the space of 30 minutes after the break.

With Friday's League clash at Carlisle looming large, City chief Dolan is looking for steely determination to pull York out of a rut.

"Defenders have got to show a lot more mental toughness if we are going to start turning the corner," said Dolan.

"I said to the players before the game, believe in yourselves and for the first half we matched them. I thought we played better than we did in the first half against Chesterfield.

"We passed the ball better, we retained it well but it is no consolation because we have lost 5-1."

The York boss admitted he was perplexed by City's inability to carry the form of their first-period showing into the second half.

He added: "Football never ceases to amaze you and the 90 minutes certainly takes some explaining to say the least.

"We have shot ourselves in the foot again in the space of about ten minutes of the second half when everything prior to that had gone reasonably well.

"But we cannot stop giving goals away at the moment and we have got to work on stopping giving goals away, it is as simple as that."

The City chief confirmed centre-back Peter Swan, who would have missed three games after Friday's trip to Brunton Park through suspension, will be out for three to four weeks after it was revealed he has suffered a slight cartilage tear.

In better news, Dolan is hopeful goalkeeper Alan Fettis will be fit for Friday's trip to Carlisle.

The City number one tweaked a muscle in his back in training forcing his surprise omission from last night's team.

dave.stanford@ycp.co.uk