YORK City shot up to third in the Nationwide Conference table last night thanks to a brilliant strike by Clayton Donaldson.

His stunning individual goal sank a tough Cambridge United outfit - relegated from the Football league last season - 1-0 at KitKat Crescent in an entertaining clash.

The win lifted the Minstermen back into the early play-off zone with 11 points from the opening six games after three wins and two draws.

Donaldson turned sharply near the halfway line and left defender Dan Gleeson floundering with his sizzling pace before slotting the ball past goalkeeper Darren Behcet ten minutes into the second half.

City manager Billy McEwan hailed Donaldson's winner - his first goal of the campaign.

The City boss said: "It was a tremendous goal - the pace, penetration and execution was superb - and I'm really pleased for him. Until then he's not scored but he's been involved in a lot of our goals so I was really pleased for the boy."

However, McEwan was not getting carried away by City's fine start to the season and shrugged off the early optimism, asking for fans to judge him at the end of the season.

He said: "It's nice for everybody connected with the club and who saw the win, but we are not daft - we know the season is nine months long.

"I have always said judge me after I've played all the games. I'm not getting carried away, but we are pleased with the progress we are making.

"It was a big test for us tonight to come back from the Halifax defeat but all we've done is win a home game. I expect us to win all our home games - we've done nothing yet."

The match was a chance for the young side to revive themselves after a first taste of defeat at Halifax on Monday at the earliest possible opportunity and the manager praised their rapid reaction.

He said: "That's a good home win for us against a very experienced side that's just come out of the league.

"We kept a clean sheet which is very important and we also bounced back from the defeat at Halifax on Monday which shows a lot of character. We showed that coming back against Woking and it was great to get that feeling back."

Updated: 09:14 Saturday, September 03, 2005