YEOVIL old boy James Berrett believes he can be a consistent marksman at York City ahead of tonight’s meeting with his former club.

Midfielder Berrett got off the mark in spectacular fashion during his second outing for the Minstermen with a curling free kick against Bradford.

That strike means the Halifax-born, 26-year-old has already equalled his tally last season for the Somerset visitors and he reckons City’s attacking focus can help him rediscover the goalscoring knack that saw him net double figures in back-to-back campaigns with Carlisle between 2010 and 2012.

“We’ve been looking a threat going forward and, hopefully, I can get into a couple more positions where I can score,” Berrett reasoned. “Against Bradford, I could have had another goal but put it over and at Wycombe I had a header that only just missed, so the chances are there.

“It’s just a matter of taking them, which hopefully I can do.”

Berrett feels City’s 3-5-2 formation can also help him get back on the goal trail, admitting: “I enjoy playing as one of three midfielders in that formation.

“It allows you to be a lot more expressive and gets you further forward and on the ball more. We played with three in midfield quite a bit at Carlisle and I’m quite comfortable with it.”

Despite arriving at Bootham Crescent with 30 professional goals to his name, however, Berrett had never hit the target from a dead-ball situation and the ex-Huddersfield harrier admitted that he only assumed that responsibility by chance against the Bantams with regular takers – the sidelined Michael Coulson and a limping Luke Summerfield - both taken out of the equation.

“I’ve not scored a direct free kick before so I was happy with that one,” he declared. “Summers’ delivery is really good from set-plays, but he was injured at the time so it was a good chance for me to step up and, thankfully, it went in.”

Just a month after Paul Sturrock was installed as Yeovil manager in April, Berrett found himself on the transfer list but the latter insists that highlighting the former Scotland international made a mistake is not an added incentive for him this evening.

He said: “I don’t really have a point to prove to anybody. That’s all in the past.

“These things happen in football. A new manager always wants to bring in his own players and you have to accept that.

“It’s nothing personal and you just have to get on with it.”

Berrett worked long enough with Sturrock, though, to know that his team will look to attack down the flanks against his new club, adding: “They’ve had a big turnaround and brought a lot of players in but I know they will want to get the ball wide and put crosses in at every opportunity.

“That’s what they try to do and it will be their main threat, so it will be about us stopping them doing that and dealing with the balls if they do come into our box.”

Having been a member of Yeovil teams that lost 1-0 to Crewe on a Tuesday night and 4-0 at Fleetwood on Easter Monday having played at home three days earlier, Berrett confirmed, meanwhile, that a 280-mile trek to North Yorkshire could take its toll on Sturrock’s team who lost 1-0 at home to Bristol Rovers at the weekend.

“I think the travelling does have an impact in midweek because, in terms of your recovery time, sitting on a bus for six hours is not the best thing,” he pointed out.

Berrett is keen, meanwhile, to put the disappointment of Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat against Hartlepool behind him after slicing his attempted clearance past Scott Flinders’ for the visitors’ 81st-minute goal.

Reliving his mishap, Berrett explained: “I was running back and, when the ball came to their player, I thought he was going to strike it cleanly, but he mishit it and that caught me off guard. I then got my feet into a muddle as I tried to clear it and it ended up going into the bottom corner.

“It’s just one of those things and I have to react in a positive manner now.”