TALENTED midfielder Lee Bullock is hoping he has finally shaken off his goal-scoring blues as York City prepare to face Shrewsbury.

Early season form suggested Bullock was on course to challenge for the club's leading scorer, netting three goals in the first five games.

But since those goals against Torquay, Crewe and Shrewsbury, Bullock managed to find the back of the net just once more - in the 3-2 defeat by Exeter City in October.

That was until December 15, when the 20-year-old ended a ten-game barren spell when he scored the Minstermen's only goal in the 3-1 defeat by Cheltenham.

After seeing the last two matches postponed due to frozen pitches, Bullock is out to add more to his tally, starting tomorrow against Shrewsbury.

"I hadn't scored for a few weeks until Cheltenham," he said. "I've kept on trying but the 'keepers have kept saving them.

"The thing is, the shots have all been on target, but they've all been kept out.

"The goal has brought my confidence back because it was starting to play on my mind that I hadn't been scoring.

"Hopefully now I can get another little run going."

He added: "I said at the start of the season that I wanted to get ten goals, so I'm halfway there."

Having been left kicking his heels with his City colleagues as the games against Rochdale and Hull City have fallen foul of the weather, Bullock knows the importance of a victory tomorrow.

"It is a massive game, especially with us not having played the last two games while the teams around us have been in action," said Bullock, who trails front-line duo Michael Proctor and Lee Nogan in the goal-scoring charts.

"But three or six points from the two games in hand will see us right back in mid-table.

"It has been frustrating the last couple of games because all the lads have really wanted to play.

"The pitch on Boxing Day was like concrete and it wouldn't have been a good game for the fans if it had gone ahead.

"Hopefully we can get a big crowd behind us now tomorrow."

Updated: 12:11 Friday, December 28, 2001