YORK City skipper Russell Penn is hoping to turn the fans of opening day hosts Tranmere against their team for a second time in his career.

The Wirral club will be plying their trade in the Football League's bottom tier for the first time in 25 years following their relegation last season.

City, meanwhile, finished the campaign in their highest position since going down from the same division in 1999.

Penn feels that difference in fortunes between the 2000 League Cup finalists and last season's SkyBet League Two play-off qualifiers could lead to frustration at Prenton Park if the home side get off to a poor start on August 9.

The 28-year-old midfielder played alongside City's summer signing Luke Summerfield for Cheltenham during a 1-0 FA Cup first round win at Tranmere in 2011.

Plying their trade a division below their hosts, the visitors were underdogs on that day and, although only Portsmouth, Plymouth, Luton, Oxford, Southend and Shrewsbury boasted higher average attendances than Rovers last season from their League Two rivals, Penn reckons that a sizeable and expectant home crowd might not prove an advantage for the 2014/15 curtain raiser.

He said: "I am glad we are going to Tranmere. It's a good game to start off with.

"It's a nice ground and, when I played there a couple of years ago with Luke, I remember the crowd getting on their backs when they weren't winning. But we will all be going there positive and trying to pick up from where we left off last season."

Following the Tranmere trip, City have three consecutive home fixtures with the Capital One Cup clash against Doncaster Rovers followed by league tests against Northampton and Cambridge.

With the team having gone nine matches unbeaten at Bootham Crescent prior to May's 1-0 play-off, semi-final defeat against Fleetwood, Penn believes such a schedule presents a great opportunity to get the campaign off to a flyer.

"I have heard ticket sales are going well, so I am hoping we can really get the place rocking in those early games," the former England C international added.