ANOTHER year and another forlorn hope of Conference football for Worcester City.

Not for the first time, City turn the new year corner staring at a Mount Everest-size promotion challenge.

I, for one, can't picture Worcester climbing great heights and scaling the play-off peak over the coming four months.

Impossible, no. Unrealistic, yes. Only hugely optimistic supporters -- and those coming round from the Christmas sherry -- can confidently trumpet a meteoric rise for Andy Preece's men.

If some fans are predicting a top-five Nationwide North finish, I would like to see betting slips confirming their faith.

An extremely poor start to the season presented City with this mammoth uphill task.

No side, even the very best, can win one of 11 opening league games and expect to celebrate promotion come April.

And City remain the only league side without an away win. They bossed games at Workington, Moor Green and Lancaster, but failed to chalk up three points.

Successful sides rely not just on good home form, but also on exploits away from headquarters.

Stafford Rangers boast seven victories on the road this season, while Nuneaton and Northwich have half-a-dozen.

Worcester must start winning on their travels and fast. They visit Hyde United on New Year's Eve and Vauxhall Motors, Gainsborough Trinity and Stalybridge next month.

January is a crucial period for Preece. Whatever he wished for inside his Christmas stocking, a perfect points-laden start to 2006 would be among his most-wanted gifts.

Last year, Worcester endured a terrible January, losing six games and prompting the resignation of former manager John Barton.

It is a sink-or-swim period again with six league fixtures, including home games against Stafford, Kettering and Workington, and three away jaunts mentioned earlier, plus an FA Trophy second round tie at Crawley.

Anything less than 12 points from that lot will rank as less-than-satisfactory and is unlikely to push City too far up the table.

A further glance at the fixture list and February presents a similar batch of toughies, including matches at Nuneaton and Northwich.

With years of professional experience under their belts, Preece and Andy Morrison are not the sort of characters prepared to give up the challenge.

After taking over the hot-seat in February, the management duo masterminded a fantastic late run last season, guiding relegation-threatened City to within a realistic play-off shout.

But ever since the first week of September this term, Worcester have been no higher than 18th place and are again flirting dangerously with the drop-zone.

City's FA Cup heroics brought great cheer to long-suffering supporters after years starved of success, but what they crave most is their side challenging at the top end of the table.

Preece will not rule out the play-offs until it is mathematically impossible and he hinted that two players may be signed in the January transfer window to add competition and depth to his squad.

He needs reinforcements in attack, to put more pressure on strikers Leon Kelly and Adam Webster, while another defender would prove useful.

Another boost presents itself with the return of Jai Stanley, whose creativity has been sorely missed at times, and young left-footer Shabir Khan.