YORK City's pocket rocket Richard Cooper was thrilled to mark his comeback with a stunning left-footed drive to earn the club a point against Lincoln City.

Now he's looking forward to helping City to a Christmas double over Boston on Boxing Day and Hull City on Saturday.

The former Nottingham Forest trainee was the surprise choice to replace the injured Stuart Wise six minutes after the break, but Cooper grasped the opportunity with both hands as he showed he was back to his combative best in the midfield.

Despite having only featured once in the first team since he broke his leg against Hull City in January 29, there were no signs of rustiness from the diminutive midfielder.

And 23-year-old Cooper was rightly rewarded for his efforts with a fantastic goal ten minutes from time, sparking mass celebration from the players, bench and fans.

Even long after the final whistle had blown, Cooper was still being congratulated by his City team-mates as he went to join Alex Mathie's birthday celebrations.

"It is my first proper game in ten months, so it was just a bit of excitement really," he told the Evening Press. "The ball was in the air for a long time and I just thought if I could hit it cleanly then you never know.

"It was either going to go in or over and hit some house, but I was really chuffed that it went in, especially as it was with my weaker foot. Personally, I was just pleased to get on and be involved again. It has been a long time out for me and even sitting on the bench for the last three games has been better than being injured.

"I'm really pleased and so glad we didn't get beat as well."

The chance to get in among the action had come out of the blue for Cooper, who had expected centre-half Gary Hobson to replace the injured Stuart Wise.

But with boss Terry Dolan opting to switch to a 4-3-3 formation, it was Cooper who was given the shout to strip off and join the fray.

He said: "I thought it was Hobbo who would go on and that we'd replace one defender with another, but the gaffer just told me that I was going on and that me, Foxy (Christian Fox) and Bully (Lee Bullock) would be in the middle in a 4-3-3. I was so pleased to be back."

And such was Cooper's delight that he had marked his comeback with a goal, he braved the dropping temperatures to take off his shirt in all the excitement.

He added: "I didn't know what to do, but I don't normally score that many. I just wanted to enjoy it!"

Updated: 11:52 Monday, December 23, 2002