SHEFFIELD Wednesday striker Jon Shaw's one-month stay at Bootham Crescent could be turned into a season-long loan deal.

Shaw, 20, has been loaned out to City by the Owls with Adam Proudlock, Lloyd Owusu, Michael Reddy, Grant Holt and Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu all blocking his passage to a first-team shirt.

The 6ft 1in forward has still managed four substitute appearances for Wednesday and City boss Chris Brass snapped him up after watching him during their 2-1 midweek LDV Vans Trophy victory against Barnsley.

Brass was expected to name Shaw on the bench for today's derby clash with Doncaster but the Sheffield-born youngster is hoping to make a big impression in the next four weeks for the Minstermen.

He said: "Being at a big club like Sheffield Wednesday I would always want to stay there but if everything goes well for a month here I might stay for a season and, if Chris Turner (Wednesday manager) decided at the end of the season that he doesn't really need me, then something more permanent could be an option."

Shaw signed a first-year professional contract at Hillsborough in the summer and has netted three times in six games for the South Yorkshire club's reserve team this season despite starting three of those matches in midfield.

His incentive to impress is two-pronged as he knows a successful spell with City could also lead to increased first-team opportunities under Turner.

He said: "The manager has brought his own forwards in and his own ideas and he wanted me to get a bit more experience and I have been asking to do it for a while now - even before Chris Turner arrived. He's said he's happy with my progress and I think I have done reasonably well and surprised a few people in my first few months as a pro.

"It has been frustrating that there are other strikers ahead of me but they have got lots of experience. Adam Proudlock has come from a Premiership team in Wolves and, in this division, Lloyd Owusu has scored loads of goals which you can't complain with but this could be my chance to prove that I should be playing and, if I score a few goals for York, then he might bring me back and put me straight back into Wednesday's first team."

Shaw has been a prolific marksman for the Owls since being a schoolboy and, despite a spell in midfield, insists that he is a natural attacker, saying: "I've been a striker since I was eight and I love scoring goals. I have been doing it all my life and have been Wednesday's top scorer at youth levels from being 13.

"Colin West, Wednesday's assistant manager, described me as 'power and pace' and my strength is getting in behind defenders and running on to the ball. I have also got a strong strike and am a handful in the air. I'm probably what you would call an all-round old-fashioned centre forward."

Updated: 10:28 Saturday, November 15, 2003