YORK City boss Russ Wilcox is looking forward to a three-way fight for the goalkeeper’s shirt at Bootham Crescent.

On-loan Burnley goalkeeper Alex Cisak made his debut during today’s 1-1 draw with Mansfield after Michael Ingham picked up a thigh strain in training.

Ingham could have recovered in time to feature at Cheltenham on Saturday but, if he is still sidelined for the FA Cup first round seven days later, then Jason Mooney might be handed a recall with Premier League Burnley refusing permission for Cisak to play for City in the competition.

Both Ingham and Mooney were dropped at different stages by previous boss Nigel Worthington, but Wilcox is still in the process of forming his own opinion on each member of his squad and, concerning the contest for selection between the sticks, he said: “There will be three of them in the mix now and I think we need that bit more competition for places.

“Michael Ingham has done well. I wouldn’t have brought Alex through the door if Michael had been fit and I have told him that.

“I’m looking at the group with my own pair of eyes and not listening too much to what other people say about the players because I want to make my own judgements on all of them. Michael picked up a thigh strain but we are hoping he will be available for Cheltenham away.

“We couldn’t really risk him being unavailable and, even though he said he felt close to fitness on the day of the game, I couldn’t put him on the bench either because, if he had been needed on the pitch and then his thigh flared up, we would have all looked rather silly.”

Wilcox added that he was impressed by ex-Australia under-20 international Cisak on his debut and has already declared an interest in securing his services beyond the current one-month agreement.

“It was a testing welcome to League Two but a game that showed what it’s all about in this division,” Wilcox reasoned. “You get balls into the box and, when we got him in the building on Friday morning, we prepared him for that in training by putting balls in from different areas of the pitch.

“He coped well with it against Mansfield and also made a couple of good saves and looked assured. He’s not played first-team football for a while and that’s always difficult.

“He also deserves credit for coming to a club at the wrong end of League Two. Burnley rate him highly because he was given a new two-year contract last month but he wants to play competitive football.

“He won’t be available for the FA Cup and they can call him back at any time if they can prove they have got injuries. Hopefully, that won’t happen and, if he does really well, there will be an option to extend his stay beyond the first 28 days.”

On-loan Sheffield United striker Diego De Girolamo, selected due to Jake Hyde being ruled out with a groin problem, gave City a 20th-minute lead against the Stags.

But Daniel Carr levelled the scores just past the hour with Wilcox disappointed that his team could not reproduce their first-half form after the interval.

“It was a game of two halves in a nutshell,” he surmised. “We passed the ball and moved it well in the first half, created some good opportunities and scored a fantastic goal.

“For the second half, we asked the lads to be brave again against the wind and a team who are effective in what they do, but we gave the ball away cheaply and that leads to pressure. If you do that, Mansfield will put balls into your box.

“They did exactly what they can do in the second half, so there were no surprises, but we didn’t deal with it like we had in the first half. We needed to win more second balls, but you also have to give credit to the opposition sometimes.

“People can forget that because they want their football club to dominate every game. The lads also deserved credit because they stuck together as a group and stayed resolute until the end in a game we could have lost.”

Wilcox explained as well that it might take more time and new personnel in certain areas for his team to perform in the manner he is demanding.

“The entertainment was not good enough in the second half,” he suggested. “For a game-and-a-half now, we have played how I like to, but I think we were caught a bit between York’s old style and my style in the second half against Mansfield.

“That might be the way for a bit. I am trying to encourage the players to be brave, but some of the decisions we made with the ball in the second half were not good.

“I am still getting to know the players as people and I am delighted we have got a free week now so I can do more on the training ground. The players are trying to buy into what I want to do but that will take time.

“The attitude, commitment, endeavour and togetherness is there but I also think we need a bit more quality in the group if we are to play how I want to play. The board might have maxed out, though, in terms of the budget over the summer so, if we are to bring in fresh bodies, we might have to move one or two out.

“I will be asking these questions at the board meeting we have on Thursday.”

By sharing the spoils with Mansfield, City have now equalled the club’s second-longest ever run without a home win – the current tally now standing at ten matches.

As a consequence, Wilcox has insisted the team must begin to make home advantage count, saying: “The longer the run goes on without a win here, it’s difficult and there were a few nervy and edgy clearances but, home or away, the pitch is the same.

“You have two goals and a halfway line and, at home, you also have supporters willing you on to do well.”

Italian under-20 international De Girolamo scored his second goal in three outings for the Minstermen, but missed out on a brace against the Stags when visiting keeper Sascha Studer denied him after he combined with Michael Coulson to burst clear through on goal.

On the on-loan Blade’s performance, Wilcox pointed out: “He’s still learning the game but he pops up in those little pockets of space which we want him to do and he creates opportunities.

“He could have been the matchwinner and I wish he had been. His goal was fantastic – a great bit of skill and great bit of play from us as a team. The second chance came from a superb reverse pass by Couls but it was a good save by their keeper.”

Wilcox went on to reveal that De Girolamo would not have started the game had Hyde been fit.

“It was so disappointing for Jake,” the City chief confessed. “I named the team on Thursday because they had done so well at Morecambe and we worked on shape.

“I’m a big believer in rewarding players who have done well, but he just tweaked his groin during the last five minutes of Friday’s session.”

Injury-prone Hyde is expected to be one of the main players to benefit from the part-time appointment of fitness coach Darren Simpson, with Wilcox adding: “Jake has said he needs to talk to Darren and we will be creating individual programmes for each player in terms of working on injury prevention.”