YORK City’s new goalkeeper Bobby Olejnik is setting his sights high having previously helped former club Torquay to an unlikely League Two play-off place in 2012.

Olejnik, recruited on loan from Peterborough until the end of the season, has also cited Russ Wilcox’s Football League record-breaking start to his managerial career with Scunthorpe last term as further cause for encouragement as the Minstermen aim to continue climbing the table during the second half of the current campaign.

Three seasons ago, Olejnik was in goal as Torquay recovered from a run of just three victories in their opening 16 fixtures to win 21 of their next 29 and go on to clinch a play-off semi-final meeting with Cheltenham when the likes of current City trio Russell Penn, Keith Lowe and Luke Summerfield eventually ended the Gulls’ promotion dreams.

Olejnik played a major role during that transformation, keeping 20 clean sheets and being named in the PFA Team of the Year before earning a move to the Championship with Peterborough.

Having signed for Wilcox at Scunthorpe last summer, Olejnik is also fully aware of the City chief ’s terrific 28-match unbeaten run as the Iron secured automatic promotion in 2013/14.

City now lie 18th in League Two – five points above the relegation zone and a distant 11 adrift of the top seven.

But eight points have been collected from a possible 12 during the last four unbeaten contests and, allied with last season’s incredible charge into the play-offs, Olejnik has his own personal reasons for optimism.

“We are on a great run of form and have got to keep that going for as long as possible and see how far we can climb,” the former Austria Under-21 international reasoned.

“The manager had an unbelievable record last season, so who knows?

“Why not get somewhere near that again? The main thing I can do to help that is keep as many clean sheets as possible.

“I had a similar experience at Torquay. We were down the table but ended up picking up wins and nearly got promoted, so why can’t that happen again?”

Olejnik added the attraction of playing under Wilcox for a second time was a major factor in his decision to drop down a division for the rest of the campaign.

He said: “I’m absolutely delighted to link up with the manager again.

I’ve worked with him before and know what he’s about, how he behaves and how he likes to play football, so I’m excited to be here.

“His man-management is excellent. He’s always having quiet words with players to try to get the best out of them and I’d say that’s one of his biggest strengths.

“We exchanged text messages after he left Scunthorpe and I congratulated him on how well the team were doing here. Then, all of a sudden, he rang and asked me if I would like to sign for him again and I said I would love to.”

Having initially joined Scunthorpe on loan due to an injury for first-choice Sam Slocombe, Olejnik retained his starting place for three matches and kept the former York College keeper on the bench after he regained fitness.

But a meeting with Olejnik’s parent club Peterborough, who he was not permitted to play against, came at an inopportune time and Slocombe has stayed in the side while Scunthorpe have embarked on an unbeaten ten-match run.

It left the 28-year-old shot-stopper with mixed feelings following his departure from Glanford Park last week.

“It was good but a bit frustrating at the same time,” Olejnik explained. “I played games early on, then they beat Peterborough and haven’t lost since so I couldn’t knock on the manager’s door and tell him I should be in the team.

“The other keeper got fit two weeks before that Peterborough game and worked on everything he had to do. He kept his place after that match and has done really well from then on, but I’m at York now and I’ve got to move on.”

Olejnik, meanwhile, preferred not to comment on the circumstances that saw him surprisingly transfer-listed by Peterborough at the end of last season after he had equalled a club record of 22 clean sheets and been named the London Road outift’s player of the year.

Reports have suggested that Posh are keen to get Olejnik off their wage bill and avoid a £20,000 payment to former club Torquay if he makes 12 more league appearances for Darren Ferguson’s men.

But Olejnik insisted: “The Peterborough situation is something I don’t want to talk about. What’s happened has happened and it’s been dealt with internally.

“That’s really all I’ve got to say on the subject.”

He is also not yet contemplating what his next move might be when his Peterborough contract expires at the end of the current campaign, adding: “Beyond doing my job here for the next four months, most things are completely out of my control and what happens after that could be down to Peterborough, York and other factors.

“But who knows? You never say never to anything.”

York Press:

CATCH AND GO: Bobby Olejnik shows safe hands

BOBBY OLEJNIK is now hoping York City will benefit from his past experience of working alongside international shot-stoppers like Tim Krul, Thomas Sorensen and Peter Enckelman.

He was understudy to Holland net-minder and Newcastle number one Krul while the pair were at Falkirk together and also cut his professional teeth learning from the likes of Sorensen - capped by Denmark 101 times - and Finland’s Enckelman at Aston Villa.

On that education, he admitted: “I was lucky enough to work with the first team at Aston Villa because it’s not too common for a young keeper to be able to do that in the Premier League.

“The amount of experience I gained at that age from people like Thomas Sorensen, Stefan Postma and Peter Enckelman was invaluable.

“Tim Krul was a 19-year-old player during our time at Falkirk but he had a 30-year-old head on his shoulders.

“He looked really experienced and was so calm on the ball. It taught me a lot just sitting there and watching him week in, week out.

“I’m surprised he’s not playing at an even higher level than he is at the moment because he’s a top, top keeper. He is Champions League quality in my opinion and I don’t see why he can’t get there.

"I feel he can go all the way. I always look at his results and really want him to do well when I watch Match of the Day."