YORK City will be walking a disciplinary tightrope against Stevenage Borough on Tuesday night.

Andy Bishop's fifth yellow card of the season means City will be without their 14-goal top scorer when promotion hopefuls Grays Athletic visit KitKat Crescent a week on Saturday and a caution against Stevenage for fellow striker Clayton Donaldson, who has netted ten times, would rule him out for that match as well.

Centre-back James Dudgeon, who was Saturday's goal hero at Crawley Town, is also one booking away from a one-match ban and Billy McEwan will be emphasising the need for caution ahead of Stevenage's visit.

Bishop's suspension is the first City have accrued this season because of five yellow cards and McEwan has been pleased with that record, saying: "To get to the turn of the year without having anybody suspended apart from Mark Hotte, who was sent off, has been fantastic. We have worked hard on discipline and I have been really proud of the boys."

McEwan felt Bishop's booking for a late, second-half challenge at Crawley was harsh and has also questioned the validity of earlier yellow cards this season when the 23-year-old forward was punished for celebrating goals.

The City boss said: "I thought he was unlucky on Saturday, bearing in mind he's a striker and they don't know how to tackle. He stuck a leg out and the lad went over it.

"We will miss him because he's a good player and I also think it's been harsh that he's been done for celebrating goals this season. Your emotion takes over when you score and I think it's crazy how you can be considered to be enticing a crowd when there's only a thousand fans in the ground."

McEwan also praised Dudgeon for his uncanny goalscoring nouse at set-pieces, saying: "He was in the position at Scarborough and the 'keeper made a fantastic save and I'm pleased he was in the right spot to get us the three points."

But City's manager was less enamoured by his team's sluggish start to the game, adding: "I think a few of them were still in the hotel and we won't get away with that against the better teams."

Updated: 11:15 Monday, January 09, 2006