NEWLY-APPOINTED York City boss Russ Wilcox has demanded that his inherited team re-establish Bootham Crescent as a place to be feared.

The Minstermen have gone eight home games without a win ahead of hosting Shrewsbury tomorrow for Wilcox's first match as Nigel Worthington's successor.

That run is the worst in more than a decade since City tumbled out of the Football League in 2004.

But Worthington's side finished last season by taking 17 points from a possible 21 on their own soil and Wilcox was also assistant manager of Scunthorpe when the Lincolnshire side were thumped 4-1 at the home of the Minstermen last October.

"Your home form is so important," Wilcox confessed ahead of his Bootham Crescent baptism. "It's where you get the core of your support.

"You need to turn in performances and get your results here to bring people through the gates. I thought it was always a tough place to come and get a result as a player and coach and that was shown with Scunthorpe last season.

"My wife actually arrived at that game slightly late and we had just gone 2-0 down. York were at us from the first whistle and we will be looking to do that again now by playing on the front foot and getting in people's faces without the ball.

"When we've got it, we've then got to pass it and move it around the pitch so we are able to create chances and score goals."

Tomorrow's visitors, meanwhile, have not won any of their last 14 league games on the road - a miserable sequence stretching back to February.

Wilcox's knowledge of the Shrews is sketchy having been operating a division higher with Scunthorpe prior to his dismissal at Glanford Park last week but he will turn to match footage and his assistant Steve Torpey as he devises a match strategy for success.

He added: "We haven't won at home this season and they've not won away so it will be an interesting battle. I've just come out of League One and I am switching my mindset back to this level again, so I will have to rely on Steve for a bit of information.

"We will have watched a few DVDs on Shrewsbury, though, before the game and, hopefully, put a plan together that will get York City three points."

Wilcox will be assessing injured quintet Michael Coulson (calf), Wes Fletcher (hamstring), Jake Hyde (calf), Dave Winfield (thigh) and Ryan Jarvis (ankle) before selecting his first starting XI, while skipper Russell Penn will serve a one-match suspension following his red card during last weekend's 3-1 defeat at Newport.

But goalkeeper Michael Ingham is expected to recover from the illness that saw him fail to reappear for the second half of that match.

Club stalwart Dan Parslow, meanwhile, will be playing the last match of his one-month loan spell for Grimsby at Torquay tomorrow afternoon.

The Mariners have only conceded two goals in the six matches Parslow has started - his first senior action since suffering cruciate ligament damage for the Minstermen last November.

But Wilcox has not yet decided whether he will recall the former Welsh under-21 international to Bootham Crescent, saying: "I'm not sure about that one.

"I will sit down with Steve and see where we are squad wise, but I know Steve has been to see him at Grimsby and came back with good reports on his performance."