HISTORY-SEEKING York City juniors have been dealt a severe blow before tonight's FA Youth Cup capital mission.

LEG WOUND: Lee Bullock

Key midfielder Lee Bullock, the only one of City's ranks with senior experience, is rated highly doubtful for the fifth round replay against competition favourites West Ham.

Bullock suffered a nasty leg wound in last week's first meeting in which the Minster mini-titans battled back from a goal deficit to earn a replay in a 1-1 draw.

After an accidental clash the elegant midfielder was left nursing a stud-mark in a shin-bone. While an infection has cleared up, the shin is still extremely painful. The 18-year-old Bullock lasted just five minutes of yesterday's final training session before the trek to Upton Park.

Adie Shaw, City's head of youth development, said a decision on Bullock's fitness would be left until as late as allowed."It's a big worry. I would reckon it's 70-30 against Lee being fit, which would be a setback as he is one of the middle two lynchpins in the side.

"We will give it as long as possible to see if he recovers, but it is looking very doubtful."

Bullock is not only a considerable midfield presence, his strength in the air was likely to pose a threat to the Hammers, who showed a vulnerability at set-pieces in last week's Bootham Crescent clash.

But despite the rap for Bullock Shaw was positive City could emulate the feat of six years ago when York last reached the quarter-finals.

"We are approaching it in a confident manner, and I do believe that if we can get past West Ham then we can go all the way," ventured Shaw.

"The pressure is on them being at home and they will be a bit more wary about us after last week's game. If we put pressure on them and show the same attitude and commitment we have got a very good chance."

The bulk of tonight's team were rested from the weekend Youth Alliance game at Oldham, where City fielded a team none of which were above the age of 16. The subsequent 1-1 draw maintained an undefeated run of 11 games.

Added Shaw: "Brian Neaves took an extremely young side over to Oldham, but they made sure the unbeaten run was kept up. That's brilliant and hopefully we can take it on tonight."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.