Galaxy number counts in Y, H and K_s for the field around MRC 1017-220 (red dots), MRC 0156-252 (orange dots) and the combined control fields (green diamonds). We do not apply completeness correction. We isolate galaxies from stars using the stellar index CLASS_STAR in SExtractor. Counts from the literature are overplotted for H and K_s. For the Y-band, we derive counts from the two GOODS-S Y field and the two control fields (CF1 and CF2) until Y < 24. Galaxy counts are also derived from GOODS-S only for sources with 23 < Y < 25.5. The best fit of the Y-band number counts by a two power-law model is shown by the dashed line (see Sect. 4, also overplotted on the H-band number counts for comparison).