YORK City could switch to a back four at Boreham Wood this weekend if Yan Klukowski fails a late fitness test.

Klukowski has not trained all week due to a tight calf muscle and, although he will join the travelling party for Hertfordshire, he faces a late fitness test on the morning of the match.

City have been playing with a three-man defence since going down 2-0 at Southport in October but if Klukowski, who has been a mainstay at the back for the last 16 matches, is missing, boss Gary Mills could revert to the 4-3-3 formation he favoured during his previous spell at the Bootham Crescent helm.

That would see Dan Parslow and Hamza Bencherif line up as orthodox centre halves, with Lanre Oyebanjo and Shaun Rooney contesting the right-back spot.

“Yan hasn’t trained this week because of a tight calf,” Mills revealed. “He will travel with us but will have a late fitness test.

“If he’s out, Shaun Rooney could go back there or we would possibly look at changing system and go with a back four and put an extra man in the middle of the park like Adriano Moke or Danny Holmes.”

City will be without Simon Lappin (Achilles), Aidan Connolly (hamstring), Matt Fry (knee) and Clovis Kamdjo (knee) for the Meadow Park trip and, while squad numbers are getting thin, Mills opted against the opportunity to bring in reinforcements this week.

The City boss is also confident that his depleted squad can cope with a busy schedule of seven games in 22 days, starting against Boreham Wood.

“We could be down to 15 outfield players, but that’s not a problem and Luke Simpson will go on the bench if needed,” Mills reasoned. “We were offered a couple of players this week but I sat down with (football consultant) Darren Caskey and we decided against it because, mentally, I know what I’m going to get from this set of players at the moment.

“The players are working hard in training so fitness levels aren’t a problem and I’ve not been making a lot of substitutions, because the players have been doing well. You don’t put people on for the sake of it.

“Maybe you can if you’re 3-0 up with ten minutes to go but, even then, you never know. You make substitutions for the right reasons.

“At Nuneaton, we did take a couple of players off late on who were on bookings, because you know one mistimed challenge could get them sent off, especially with the referee on the day, who wanted to book everybody and ruined our good disciplinary record recently, which was a disgrace really. But I feel now that our players won’t do stupid things like mouthing off at the referees and you need that trust.”

Meadow Park has proven a happy hunting ground for Mills, whose Wrexham team enjoyed consecutive 1-0 victories there this season and last, with current City trio Sean Newton, Adriano Moke and Bencherif sharing in that success with the Welsh club.

Mills now believes that the Minstermen’s vocal travelling army of fans could play a big part, as he looks to secure maximum points again at the 2015 National League South play-off winners.

“You have to create your own atmosphere there, as they’re not well-supported and, sometimes, it can feel like there isn’t a game on but, hopefully, we will have a few fans down there to help us in that respect as usual,” he pointed out.

Despite his recent record against Saturday’s hosts, Mills will not be taking the mid-table FA Trophy quarter-finalists lightly though.

“I don’t buy any talk that they’ve got nothing to play for because, if they lost all of their remaining games, they would go down,” he argued.

“They’re having a good season. In Kenny Davis and Jai Reason, they have two experienced players in the middle of the park, who try and dictate games and, if Simon Heslop and Sean Newton are playing against them in there, it should be an interesting battle.

“They also play three up front and leave them up there. They don’t worry about them getting back and they are quick, so we will have to be switched on.

“But we’ve got three up top as well and I don’t think I’d swap mine for theirs at this moment in time.”