JAMES Dudgeon will be handed his York City debut if he can prove his fitness ahead of Friday's home match with Woking.

The former Worskop Town defender has dropped out of the Minstermen squad for the last two matches because of a twisted ankle but will now be given a starting place if he recovers in time with captain Mark Hotte picking up an immediate one-game ban for his red card during Saturday's 1-1 draw against Grays Athletic.

Should Dudgeon be unavailable then manager Billy McEwan may shift Nathan Peat into the centre and hand Dave Merris a recall at left-back or seek permission to make a new loan signing.

McEwan reiterated that former manager Chris Brass would not come into contention even if he was sufficiently match-fit after his knee ligament operation.

The City boss said: "We will need to monitor James this week otherwise we might need to bring somebody in on loan, or Peat might come into the centre, and we will deal with what we have got. I've been looking for a new centre-half over the last three or four weeks anyway because I knew we were short in that department and I think we still need to add a defender, midfielder and striker.

"The player we have been looking at has had problems with his club letting him out. We will have to pursue that a bit more but, if it's a non-starter, we will go somewhere else."

Updated: 11:30 Monday, August 22, 2005