Wes Fletcher and Jake Hyde set 15-goal targets for York City

The front two both grabbed their seventh goals of the season during Tuesday night's 3-0 win at Cambridge.

That victory represented only the second time this term that both players have been on the City scoresheet but manager Russ Wilcox has given the pair an ambitious challenge with a dozen games left to play, ahead of Saturday's Sky Bet League Two clash at AFC Wimbledon.

He said: "Wes has got three goals in four games now which is good and Jake scored on his return to the team at Cambridge. I'd like to see them both on 15 goals at the end of the season because, if they did that, it would guarantee our Football League status barring a defensive nightmare.

"They have to set their targets and it's a good thing that they have scored the same amount because that can drive them both on, as long as they focus on what's right for the team and don't shoot when the other is better placed.

"I don't think they will do that and they both took their goals well at Cambridge. Wes' goal was an instinctive strike and Jake's was a poacher's effort."

Fletcher and Hyde were partnered together at the Abbey Stadium as Wilcox reverted to a 4-4-2 formation, having line up 4-2-3-1 at the start of the previous four fixtures.

The City boss added that Diego De Girolamo's absence due to illness might have influenced the switch but also hinted that he might have made the change regardless. "If Diego had been available, it would have given me food for thought but the main reason I went 4-4-2 was to try and give us a foothold in the game during the first ten minutes," Wilcox explained. "I wanted the two strikers high up the pitch so we could play from back to front quicker if we needed to.

"I think it also suits both strikers. Jake can play in the hole as a number ten and Wes is definitely a number nine who wants to run in behind defences.

"It's been difficult to get a settled front two all season but they play well as a pair and there was a lot of good combination play the other night."

On-loan Sheffield United striker De Girolamo is expected to be back in contention against the Dons but Luke Summerfield is still waiting to make a full recovery from the thigh injury that has ruled him out of the last six fixtures.

Wilcox is happy, meanwhile, that he insisted on Dave Winfield being unable to play against his parent club following his loan switch to Kingsmeadow last month.

"He's doing the best for himself and Wimbledon at the moment and I'm pleased he won't be lining up against us on Saturday," the Minstermen chief confessed. "I watched him play well for them against Cambridge and have had good reports on him from Saturday's Hartlepool game too.

"That's good for us because the difficulty here, with no reserve team, was that he wasn't getting games. You can't really throw somebody in without seeing them play matches but, now, we know we can call him back and put him in our team if we need to.

"We can do that after this weekend, so we will monitor that situation and decide what to do. He's gone there but he's still a York City player and will be next season."

Wilcox remains fully aware of the threat posed by 16-stone behemoth Adebayo Akinfenwa, who claimed assists against City during the last two contests between the two teams - a 3-1 FA Cup replay defeat being followed by December's 3-2 home loss in the league.

"We must defend better than we have against them this season because, in the league game at home, we gifted Wimbledon their goals," Wilcox reasoned. "If we keep Akinfenwa quiet, especially in dead-ball situations, then that will nullify a lot of their attacking threat because he's probably the most effective forward around at this level." City travel south looking to record back-to-back victories for only the second time this season and Wilcox believes the key to finding a consistency, that has so far proved elusive during 2014/15, lies with how his players defend as a team.

He said: "We have taken eight points from the last five games and kept three clean sheets in our last four, which had to be the main focus after losing 3-0 at Northampton. Back-to-back clean sheets gives you the confidence to pick up points, so I'm very pleased with that, but the hardest thing is to keep that going now.

"There's not a lot of consistency in this league and our performances against Tranmere and Northampton with the same 11 players were like chalk and cheese. I think the key to stopping that from happening is getting back to basics, which we've tried to do in the last two games by being nice and solid.

"If it's not pretty, it's not pretty but we have to build ourselves into games for those first ten minutes and, then, look to create opportunities."

Wimbledon, who have failed to net in their last three contests after beating Luton 3-2, also epitomise the division's topsy-turvy nature with Wilcox adding: "I watched Wimbledon draw 0-0 at Cambridge and thought they were outstanding, but I had them watched at Hartlepool and the reports weren't great.

"This whole league is Jekyll and Hyde, so it all depends on which Wimbledon turn up and which York City turn up. They are still hoping they've got a chance of reaching the play-offs and are playing a bit more football than before so, if both teams turn up, it should be an exciting game and we will go there with a lot of confidence and belief after beating Cambridge."

Along with Winfield, Wimbledon will also be missing central-defensive trio Jake Goodman (broken toe), Will Nightingale (knee) and Andy Frampton (foot) with 33-year-old defender Mark Phillips poised for only his second league start of the season for the club as a consequence.

First-choice keeper James Shea is also out with a fractured ankle but winger George Francomb could return after missing four matches with a hamstring problem.