York aim to make light of injury to Coulson

The 24-year-old is facing an extended spell on the sidelines after being stretchered off during the win at Accrington Stanley.

Coulson is definitely out for between six and eight weeks but a second scan will determined whether his cruciate ligament is damaged, an injury that would rule the winger out for the season.

Mills said: “Michael’s injury did take the shine off what was an excellent win. He has been a big player for us so to lose him is a blow.

“The positive thing is that even when we suffer a setback, it hasn’t affected our confidence. This is a resilient bunch who have proved time and time again how good they are at bouncing back.

“Whether that is losing a game or one of our players being injured, we usually bounce back. This is a good group.”

On the midweek win at the Crown Ground that propelled York up to ninth, Mills added: “We played well at Accrington and their goalkeeper had to make three or four outstanding saves to keep us out until Jason Walker got our winner in the last few minutes.

“It was a good performance that came on the back of a good home win (against Dagenham & Redbridge) in our last game.

“We have got six valuable points to add to our total and we are really looking forward to taking on Southend. Our away form has been excellent this season and we want to continue that.”

The back-to-back wins over Dagenham & Redbridge and Accrington over the past week mean City have lost just once – an unfortunate 2-0 home reverse to Fleetwood Town – in seven league outings.

Mills added: “We have been on a good run. A few of games had been drawn and while some were not happy, we never let it affect us. We knew a win would be just around the corner and now we have two.”

Meanwhile, York midfielder Lee Bullock has joined BlueSquare Premier side Gateshead on loan.

Signed in the summer from Bradford City, Bullock has found it hard to get into the City side with his last start being on the opening day of the campaign.