DIEGO De Girolamo is poised to start in York City's number-ten role for Saturday's home match with Exeter.

The on-loan Sheffield United striker was used from the bench during last weekend's 3-0 defeat at Northampton after returning from Bramall Lane for a third spell with the club this term and City boss Russ Wilcox believes the 19-year-old attacker can get the team firing again.

De Girolamo's inclusion would probably mean Michael Coulson switching back to a wide position in Wilcox's 4-2-3-1 formation with the Minstermen chief saying: "I think Diego's best position is in that number-ten role off the main striker.

"He played on the right-hand side for Italy this week for 15 minutes in a 4-4-2 before he was moved behind the striker for the last half-hour and, when you have quality players in the group, it's important to get them in the right areas on the pitch, but he also has to be flexible. Michael Coulson is probably more flexible than Diego though and could play in all four attacking positions."

With De Girolamo having been away on international duty all week, however, Wilcox will be looking for any signs of fatigue on his return to North Yorkshire tomorrow before finalising his starting XI.

"He played 45 minutes in Italy against Qatar under-20s," Wilcox revealed. "They won 6-0 and he's massively in my thoughts for this weekend.

"We've just got to make sure he has come back from Italy physically and mentally right because everybody knows what he can give us. He got four goals in eight games before going back to Sheffield United and scoring goals on a regular basis is key.

"It was great to get two against Luton and Tranmere but we failed to score again at Northampton and we're the fourth-lowest scorers in the league, so that has to change." On-loan Walsall left back Malvind Benning, meanwhile, is poised to keep his place despite gifting Northampton a goal and conceding a penalty last weekend with Wilcox working hard to lift his morale this week.

"It's important to have individual chats with players after good and bad performances and, at 21, Mavlind's still a young player so those won't be his last mistakes," the City manager reasoned. "I was still making them at 38 but you have to make sure you make less of them."

Wilcox has also suggested that there is little sense in setting his third-bottom side a points target for Sky Bet League Two survival, but added: "I think it could be a low tally to stay up this season.

"Over the last ten years, anything between 37 and 52 points has been needed, so it has varied massively and who knows what will be needed? I don't want to set monthly targets or anything because, if you don't achieve them, that can lead to negativity.

"We know we can't rely on Cheltenham and Hartlepool to keep losing. That won't happen and our home form will be vital.

"We've got massive games against Carlisle, Cheltenham and Hartlepool but it's one game at a time and the next one is Exeter. We've got a big three-game week coming up with away games at Cambridge and Wimbledon and the matches will be ticked off quickly now."

Exeter boss Paul Tisdale is now English football's second-longest serving manager behind Arsene Wenger having been in charge of the Devon club for almost nine years.

Wilcox believes the mid-table Grecians have been rewarded for showing faith in the former Team Bath chief despite failing to win any of their opening eight matches this season.

"It's good to see how long Paul Tisdale and Exeter have been together," Wilcox admitted. "I've looked at our division's bottom-six clubs and they've all changed managers.

"Some are even on to their third and are still down there so, sometimes, you need to give people a bit more time. People have good runs and bad runs but, if you feel you've recruited the right manager, as you should do, then maybe you need to stick with them a bit."

Luke Summerfield remains a week or two away from a comeback following his thigh injury and striker Jake Hyde will serve the final game of his three-match suspension.

The City boss has also not ruled out Dave Winfield playing a further part in the Minstermen's campaign after watching the defender play for loan club ACF Wimbledon during Tuesday night's 0-0 draw at Cambridge.

"He had a solid game and looked comfortable," Wilcox said of Winfield's performance. "It's great for us that he's getting football and, if we do decide to bring him back, he'll be ready to go straight back into the team.

"He won't play against us on March 7 and I think he's then got until after the following weekend when the initial 28 days are up, so we will keep monitoring that and decide whether we need to recall him, not only if we get injuries or suspensions, but also if there's a loss of form in the squad."

Wilcox went on to reveal that he missed out on a loan target this week.

"It's sometimes difficult to attract players when you are down the bottom of the league and he's gone to a team higher up in League Two," the Bootham Crescent boss explained. "I know another loan would take us up to six, but we've got to keep trying to improve the squad if the right player comes along and we thought he would have been."