YORK City boss Russ Wilcox called for more understanding from supporters after his team were booed at the end of a 3-0 opening day defeat at Wycombe.

Stephane Zubar’s bizarre 20-yard own goal – Wycombe’s third of the afternoon on 58 minutes – also saw chants of “You’re Getting Sacked In the Morning” directed at Wilcox from the visitors’ end.

Last season’s beaten Sky Bet League Two play-off finalists had earlier taken a seventh-minute lead through Anthony Stewart following a rare Keith Lowe mistake while Aaron Amadi-Holloway doubled the Chairboys’ advantage just before the half-hour mark.

Commenting on City fans’ frustrations, Wilcox said: “I don’t want to hear the kind of things that I heard from the supporters at the end. We’re all disappointed but, come on, we need a bit more support than that.

“We’ve been beaten 3-0 but it was one game and we don’t need that. We’ve lost one match, but it doesn’t mean we’ll have a bad season.

“I’m happy with the squad I’ve put together. I was disappointed for everybody at the football club because it wasn’t the start we wanted but there were glimpses of things that encouraged me.

“We can’t get too down and I can’t be too critical because it’s a long, long season. I wouldn’t have got carried away if we had won and I won’t be now we have lost. “We’ve got a chance to put things right against Bradford on Tuesday and they lost 4-1 so these things happen. Sheffield United got beaten 4-0 at Gillingham too and lots of other clubs around the country will be feeling the same as us.

“It was a disappointing day at the office but there’s no point moping about.”

Wilcox conceded, however, that his players contributed to their own downfall following decisive defensive blunders.

“In a nutshell, you can’t defend like we did at a tough place like Wycombe,” he admitted. “We knew our first port of call was to be solid but we gave away two, if not three, soft goals, although I thought the second was a foul because our 15 stone defender ended up on his backside.

“Other than that, Scott Flinders didn’t have much else to do because they only had three shots on target.”

Wilcox also tempered any criticism of Lowe and Zubar following their influential campaigns in 2014/15.

“Keith and Stephane were solid as rocks last season and what happened to them happens,” the City chief reasoned. “I’ve been there myself as a centre half and it’s all about how you respond to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“Keith was our Player of the Year last season and was different class. He’s made a mistake and it gave them a head start after we had a foothold in the game, but he will learn from that.

“When we conceded the third in the manner we did that then killed us as a team but Stephane is a good player too so I won’t be criticising him either.”

Zubar, who returned on loan from Bournemouth on the eve of today’s game, was preferred to John McCombe as the left-sided centre back in Wilcox’s 3-5-2 formation.

On-loan Cardiff City teenager David Tutonda was given his debut too at wing back with McCombe not even making the bench, suggesting he was unhappy at being left out.

Defending his selection choices, Wilcox added: “I brought two players in with two days to go and Stephane looks like he needs to get up to speed but that was a decision I made and it’s as simple as that.

“I’m sure everyone can look in hindsight and say it might have been different if he (McCombe) had been here, but Stephane was a top, top class defender and helped us massively last season. Some of David’s games have also been in under-21 football and it’s not the same but he showed in glimpses what he can offer.

“I don’t regret bringing them in because, long-term, I’m confident they will do well.”

Wilcox went on to highlight Reece Thompson’s performance as the biggest plus of the afternoon with the former Frickley striker playing his first pro game at the age of 21.

The City manager said: “Reece had a good debut. He caused them problems and he won’t come across two more mobile centre-halves than he faced at Wycombe but he was a handful for them. He could have got a couple of goals but they put some outstanding blocks in and had to be strong and aggressive to deal with him.

“That was the major positive from the game – how he stretched them, conducted himself on the pitch and grafted. I know now that he will cause League Two centre halves problems.”