Burnley v York City - Pete Oliver's big match preview

WHILE Chris Waddle is demanding a win from his Burnley side to claw themselves off the foot of the Second Division table tomorrow, his counterpart at York City is just as desperate for the points - albeit for a vastly different reason

Alan Little's men have slipped from third place on November 8 to their current position of 10th on the back of six draws and a defeat in their last seven games.

Their last league win was against Wrexham in mid-December and they need a maximum return at Turf Moor just to claim a share of the last play-off spot.

"We need to go to Burnley to get a win," admitted Little, one of the 10 longest serving managers in the Premiership and Nationwide Leagues having succeeded former Clarets assistant John Ward in March 1993.

He has enjoyed one promotion and some notable cup scalps in that time, Manchester United and Everton biting the dust in the Coca Cola Cup, but is still chasing promotion to the second rank of English football which the Minstermen have enjoyed only once before in their history.

That looked a long shot this time last season as York found themselves fighting the drop. Marooned in the bottom five throughout the run-in, they were the ones that claimed the position of safety and with a couple of new signings were transformed into early season pace-setters. The goals have begun to dry up, however, and none of the three players who scored in City's 3-1 win over Burnley at Bootham Crescent in August may start tomorrow.

Last season's top scorer Neil Tolson is injured, on loan Steve Davis broke a leg in training and has returned to Barnsley and Rodney Rowe, a £70,000 buy from Huddersfield Town towards the end of last season, is out of sorts with a pending court case hanging over his head.

The scorer of 14 goals, Rowe's last in the League was in November and his place could come under pressure from Gary Bull.

Bull has been something of an enigma since joining the North Yorkshire club from Nottingham Forest. The former Barnet striker remains a highly skillful and creative player but two goals in 41 league appearances last season was an unsatisfactory return and his first league goal of the current campaign didn't arrive until last Saturday.

That last minute effort should have been enough to give York a point against Millwall but they still managed to concede again and go down 3-2. Despite a bright start when Paul Stephenson, who was a youth player at Newcastle when Waddle was making his name in the first team, scored early on, York were poor against the Londoners and Burnley could barely meet them at a better time.

York have not won away since their opening trip of the season, ironically at Millwall, but Little insists that they should have at least one reason for confidence tomorrow. He added: "We won at Burnley last year for the first time ever. That win broke the hoodoo so we should go there with no apprehension or fear. It's a test of character because of the way we didn't play last week."

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