STAND-IN skipper Dave Winfield has admitted his relationship with York City boss Russ Wilcox is ten times better than it was last season.

Winfield did not feature during the first four months of Wilcox's Bootham Crescent reign before being farmed out on loan to AFC Wimbledon back in February having failed to even make the bench in three of the four preceding matches.

He returned from the Wombles, however, to play a key role as City staved off the threat of relegation during the final month-and-a-half of last season and has become a mainstay during the new campaign with only fellow defender Keith Lowe matching his outfield record of playing every minute of the opening eight games.

Winfield's renaissance under Wilcox culminated in him being made captain when Russell Penn missed the weekend trip to Newport with a foot injury.

It highlighted the mutual faith that now exists between player and manager with Winfield admitting: "Football is very tough mentally.

"One minute you are out of the picture and the next minute you're back in the team and are expected to perform, but my relationship with the gaffer has improved ten-fold. There's a good trust there now and I have taken that trust on myself and started to put in some good performances."

The 27-year-old centre back went on to stress that he was happy to don the armband in South Wales but will not mind handing it back to Penn either.

"I will always take on the responsibility if given the opportunity," he declared. "It just so happened that our skipper couldn't be there on Saturday because he's struggling a little bit and, in that situation, I'm happy to take the armband and do everything I can with it to try and push the boys on to get the results we need.

"I've been captain at Wycombe and Aldershot in my time and it's a comfortable position for myself but let's not get carried away. We've got a captain at the club and he will always wear the armband when he's in the team."

The one feature of Winfield's campaign that threatens to interrupt his progress is a yellow card tally of three, which means a further two cautions before the turn of the year will see him incur a suspension.

As a combative defender, such perils often come with the territory, although Winfield has called on referees not to punish him for being hard but fair.

He reasoned: "I want to play every single game I'm fit for this year and I'm working hard to perform to a level where I keep my shirt but I'm an aggressive player and, whilst I must avoid the silly bookings, sometimes other cautions can't be helped. I played my natural game at Newport though and, thankfully, I didn't pick up a card.

"Some players don't help either when they try to bend the rules and I don't think you should be penalised if it's your natural game to be aggressive and dominant."

Winfield added that he remains content at the heart of a back three - a system City have employed in every game this term other than for the Capital One Cup trip to Premier League Swansea.

"The back three formation still feels very comfortable," he pointed out. "The shape was good at Newport and has been in the last few games.

"The goals we have conceded have been in games where we've made mistakes so they could have been avoided and we've limited the opposition to just two or three chances in those matches, which means the shape is still good."

Aldershot-born Winfield has also been impressed with how transfer-listed, left-back Femi Ilesanmi has slotted into the back-line after the injured Stephane Zubar's return to parent club Bournemouth.

The ex-Shrewsbury sentinel said: "Femi's a very good defender and he's been showing that by performing very well. It's always important to have a natural left-sided player in that role and a natural right-sided player on the other side because it balances things off very well in a back three."

Winfield reasoned too that City were overdue the kind of convincing victory they enjoyed during Saturday's 3-0 triumph at Newport.

"I feel that result was coming for a good three-and-a-half weeks," he explained. "We've always created chances but, up to last Saturday, we'd not been putting a good percentage away but we did that at Newport and took the three points.

"We got a clean sheet as well, which made the journey that bit sweeter. Scott Flinders had another good game and we worked hard as a back three and a defensive unit.

"Games like Saturday are also probably the hardest to play in because it was pressing for them to get a result at home, but we performed well and we can use that as a catalyst to build some momentum."

Winfield is no stranger to City's next hosts Stevenage, having played at Broadhall Way three times in the past but he is expecting a different challenge to that he has faced previously at the Hertfordshire club with ex-Manchester United and England striker Teddy Sheringham having succeeded the cantankerous Graham Westley.

"I think it will be a completely different Stevenage to what we have seen in the past," Winfield ventured. "From what I know of Teddy Sheringham, they will try and play a bit more football, so we will be preparing for that."