THE goals might have dried up, but Richard Brodie has no doubts he will hit the target again once chances come his way.

Brodie had netted in five successive York City matches before the team’s current run of three games without a goal.

Opportunities have been sparse, though, for Brodie during defeats against Torquay (0-2) and Dover (0-1), either side of a 0-0 draw with ten-man Tranmere, with his self-belief remaining undiminished.

“I was unlucky at Torquay with the chance that hit the post and I haven’t had a shot since,” the 29-year-old striker reasoned. “When you’re up there on your own, you’ve got to lay the ball off and, then, get in the box and hope the ball comes and I can’t always create my own opportunities – people have to create for me as well.

“But I’m still confident and I know another goal will come and, hopefully, another four will follow again.”

Having arrived for a second spell at Bootham Crescent overweight before suffering a foot injury in pre-season, though, Brodie admits he is still catching up in terms of his conditioning.

“I’ve not been myself for the last two games,” he confessed. “I got in the team earlier than I expected and went on and did really well, which surprised myself, not ability wise but because of the stage of fitness I was at.

“The games have also come thick and fast, but I will keep working hard to keep my place. It’s the first time I’ve played eight games in a row for a long time and that will have its affects but, getting through it, is how I will get my fitness.”

Brodie is also writing off the team’s current barren spell in front of goal as the season’s sticky spell and predicts a hiding for somebody on the horizon.

“Justin (Jackson), Kaine (Felix) and Daniel (Nti) all got in some good areas, but it just seems to be that final pass or shot that we need to get right at the minute and we’ll probably go and score six or seven in one game soon because, when it all clicks and we get the ball down and pass it, we are a really good outfit and nobody can live with us,” Brodie reasoned. “We’ve just got to put it all together for whole matches, rather than 20-minute spells here and there.

“We all know what we can do and, as somebody who always looks at the positive side of things, we’ve got a lot of time and games left so, if we’re going to have a sticky spell, it’s better we have it now.”

But Brodie went on to stress that he and Aidan Connolly, who has claimed six assists and three goals this term, will need to contend with becoming marked men.

“If teams have watched us, Aidan’s probably been our most influential player, so Dover did their homework on him,” the ex-Southport striker pointed out. “(Jamie) Grimes also followed me everywhere.”