JOSH CARSON is determined to put his injury nightmares behind him after signing a new one-year deal at York City.

The Northern Ireland international has failed to finish each of the last three campaigns with the Minstermen, suffering a broken foot, cruciate knee ligament damage and bruising of the brain.

Carson's first setback came when he joined City on loan from Ipswich towards the tail-end of the 2012/13 season.

His serious knee problem the following March then saw him playing catch-up for the majority of last term before an off-the-field, late-night incident left him with a severe head injury that meant he did not feature in any of the club's final seven fixtures.

On his treatment room travails, Carson admitted: "Injuries have been the hardest thing about my time at the club – especially my knee, which took me the best part of a year to get back on track from in terms of feeling fully fit and running properly again.

"But that's all over now and I just want to get a lot of games under my belt and help the team perform well.

"For any player who misses pre-season, it's hard trying to get fit during the season when everybody else has got 20 games behind them and I felt it took me until about March to get back to my best.

"I just want to stay injury free next season and play every game if I can and give a good account of myself."

Ballymena-born Carson has been given the all-clear to resume his career after doctors ruled out a playing return for two months following his hospitalisation last season.

The 22-year-old midfielder said: "It's all fine now and, thankfully, the club and manager stood by me and I'll get another crack of the whip next season.

"I suffered bruising on the brain and was told it would heal in two months. It was worrying at the time but I'm over it now and just want to focus on football."

Despite being out of contract prior to agreeing terms for a further 12 months, Carson insisted he never considered moving elsewhere and now hopes to remind City fans of the ability that saw him win full international honours at the age of 17 and play in the Championship, as well as score five goals during his first full season in North Yorkshire.

He declared: "This is a great club and one I'm delighted to be a part of moving forward. I want to thank everyone involved for trying to keep me.

"I wasn't interested in going anywhere else and, as soon as the offer here came along, I wanted to sign as quickly as possible and was glad to do that.

"I've got another year to get my head down and get back on track and show everyone what I'm made of.

"I want to get back to the player I was when I first came to the club on loan and make everyone sit up and take notice again."

Having played his part in City's play-off push during 2013/14, Carson has also set his sights high for the coming campaign.

"I don't see any reason why we can't push for promotion and stand out as a club next season," he said.

"We've got strength in every position, so we've got the players, the staff and the fanbase and know a lot of people are rooting for us."