York City v Shrewsbury: Elusive home win is Wilcox’s first concern

But for Russ Wilcox, it is all about the here and now for York City, too close to the foot of the League Two table for comfort and boasting just one win in 17 matches in all competitions heading into his first game in charge today against visitors Shrewsbury.

Wilcox, conscious that York have not won at home since April 26 and require a quick injection of points, said: “You have got to look short-term first and foremost before looking at the bigger picture about developing the club and pushing towards League One.

“The short-term goal is to get away from the bottom.”

Wilcox’s last professional memory of Bootham Crescent is not a particularly happy one with Scunthorpe United hammered 4-1 in the final days of his predecessor Brian Laws’s tenure shortly before he took over last November.

But he is hoping that it will be all smiles today as he aims to acquaint himself with his new audience in the best possible fashion.

He said: “That (Scunthorpe game) was a crazy night. My wife arrived late and she heard a cheer as she came up the stairs and thought we were 1-0 down. It was actually 2-0 and 4-0 soon after that.

“But York has always been a good place to come as an opposition manager. The atmosphere is always good and the far end are always bouncing.

“Hopefully, they will do that on Saturday and push the lads towards three points. Then everything looks rosey in the garden again.

“You only have to look at last season when the club moved from down at the bottom of the table into the play-off zone and you can do that in any league.

“But it is about getting that home win first.”