KAINE Felix has declared himself ready to exorcise the ghost of his costly miss for York City against Sutton United.

The 21-year-old attacker shot weakly at Sutton keeper Ross Worner with a one-on-one opportunity that would have put City 3-1 up in their last home match.

Instead, an 89th-minute Jamie Collins penalty meant the Minstermen had to settle for a share of the spoils in the 12th game of their 13-match run without a victory.

City boss Gary Mills highlighted the significance of Felix’s failure to score after the match and left the former Boston winger out of the squad that earned a 1-1 draw at Eastleigh.

But the ex-Peterborough trainee earned praise from Mills after he scored one of the reserves’ goals this week in a 2-0 win at Rotherham and is determined to put his Sutton agony behind him.

Felix admitted he lost sleep over that moment and is taking the time he is now afforded during his first spell as a professional to strengthen his weaker left foot.

“The miss has been playing on my mind all the time and I couldn’t really sleep that night because I could have put the game to bed,” he revealed. “But, since then, I’ve just got back on the training field to practice again.

“I’m not happy I missed the chance. It was on my weaker foot but, as the fans always say, professional footballers have all week to practice with their weaker foot, so it should be a bit sharper.

“I’m scrubbing up on that at the moment and, hopefully, when I get my next opportunity in the first team, I will be ready to take it and get on the scoresheet.”

Felix managed eight goals in two seasons with Boston, but is yet to get off the mark in 14 first-team outings for City.

Confessing that he was so pleased to find the back of the net for the reserves, he had to fight the urge to keep his reaction low key in front of the modest gathering at Parkgate Football Club, Felix smiled: “I wanted to celebrate at Rotherham because I didn’t expect it to take this long to get a goal for the club.

“It’s been a long time coming, but I feel confident now because, even though it was the reserves, I always try to play every game as if it’s my last so, to get 90 minutes under my belt, a goal and an assist, will hopefully make me believe in myself a lot more to push on and do what I did for the reserves in the first team.”

While first impressions supposedly stick, The Press’s joint Player of the Month for September is now planning, meanwhile, to demonstrate to Mills that he does have the credentials to be successful in the full-time game, adding that the recent recruitment of seasoned campaigners, such as Sean Newton, Simon Lappin and Adriano Moke, will help him flourish too.

“The gaffer makes his own selections and has his own thoughts,” Felix reasoned. “I had been the Player of the Month just before he came in and, then, being dropped and out of the team makes you more hungry to prove to the manager that you should be in the squad – not for a negative effect, but for a positive one because I think I’m good enough to play.

“With a few more experienced players in the team now, I also feel I could fit in a bit better than beforehand.

“The likes of Newts (Sean Newton) coming in gives you more confidence on the ball and I’m hoping to get in the manager’s eye and impress him to get my starting shirt back and keep it.”

Felix was played as a central striker, meanwhile, against Rotherham and, having primarily operated as a right winger for the Minstermen, understands the importance of having more than one string to his bow to further press his first-team claims.

“It’s definitely different playing through the middle,” he stressed. “But it’s always nice to try and master and learn other positions so, when called upon, you can change roles in games, which makes you more versatile and selectable.

“I will try and keep learning off the older boys and more experienced strikers we have and, when I receive the ball, I’m always confident that I can beat a defender so, when I’m playing in that role, I know the centre backs are usually slower than the full backs and that gives me the confidence to take the ball on the half-turn and get at them straight away.”

Felix’s goal against the Millers was also a bit of a collectors’ item in more ways than one.

“I can probably count the number of headers I have scored on one hand,” the diminutive forward pointed out.

“But I positioned myself in the right area to predict Daniel Nti’s cross after he made a really great run.

“He also spotted me well and I just dived, hoped for the best and it went in.”

The part he played in Scott Fenwick’s second goal was just as notable, as he refreshingly decided to tee up a simple chance for his team-mate, rather than gambling on the referee awarding a penalty after he was clipped.

Describing the motivation behind that decision, Felix explained: “I probably should have gone down for the second goal, because it could have been a penalty.

“But I still felt there was something to play for and I managed to pop it across on to Fenners’ head.”