RECALLED York City utility man Josh Law is hoping his return to action will help the team rediscover the winning habit he has enjoyed when featuring in the first XI.

Law lost his place in the side to Connor Brown after the last of the Minstermen’s five straight victories from Boxing Day onwards – a 5-3 triumph at Telford on January 16.

He subsequently managed just one substitute outing in the next eight appearances, before kicking off Tuesday night’s 3-2 home win against Southport.

That victory means Law has won eight, drawn one and lost one of the last ten matches he has started.

With 15 successes in the 27 games he has made the starting line-up this season, a win ratio of 55.6 per cent is also significantly higher than the 25 per cent of fixtures City have prevailed in when he hasn’t been selected from the beginning.

On his impressive record and absence from the team, Law admitted: “I’ve experienced quite a few wins in the games I’ve played this season so, when you’re on the sidelines and the team isn’t winning, it’s frustrating.

“When you do then get your chance and the team wins the game, it feels good and I feel the lads have now got the bit between their teeth and want to secure that play-off place and get back into the National League.”

While being overlooked, Brown, Connor Smith and Adriano Moke all operated as right wing-backs and appeared to have leapt in front of Law in the pecking order on that side of the pitch.

Consequently, the former Oldham and Alfreton campaigner confessed it was a shock when he was back in favour against Southport.

“I was really pleased and pretty surprised because, if you’re out of the team for a while, you can think maybe I’m not for him,” Law admitted. “I took it that I might be playing the day before, because I was involved when we were working on shape and set-pieces.

“I’m pretty experienced, so the manager didn’t have to say much about what he expected from me before the game and you can see from how he works how he wants us to play. We got a win, which was the main thing so, hopefully, I can now stay in the team and help us get out of this league.”

One of the team’s better players technically, Law also reasoned the switch to 3-5-2 might benefit his game more than when he was operating in a back four.

“I’ve swapped between full-back and midfield throughout my career and I’m pretty comfortable on the ball,” Law pointed out. “Sometimes, managers want out-and-out defenders to stay in their position and do their job, but I enjoy playing at wing-back.

“It allows you to get forward a bit more and I do like to be at that end of the pitch with a little less responsibility to sit in as a right-back defending. I thought we looked quite good as a team in the formation against Southport before the nerves kicked in a bit after the penalty.”

Having surrendered a 2-0 lead against the Sandgrounders on Tuesday night, Law was involved in the goal that saw James Gray – another player brought back from the cold – grab the 90th-minite winner for City.

He now believes such a dramatic goal could prove a turning point in a topsy-turvy season for the team as well as for the struggling striker.

“Their equaliser was deflating and I think the whole ground was thinking ‘not again’, but we reacted well and went straight up the other end to attack,” Law said. “It was good for Tippy (Gray) to get his first goal and those types of goals in the last minute can be massive and change your season.

“It was a lift for everybody to finish on such a high and gave everyone a buzz.”

Law is also confident that there are others in reserve waiting to make a similar impact to him and Gray - if called upon.

“There are lads there that have been frustrated and are eager to take their chance, like I was myself,” he added. “We have some good players who can come in and do a good job so, with the injuries we have got, that could be an opportunity for them.”

One of Law’s defeats in a City shirt came against this weekend’s opponents Chorley, who were 2-0 home winners back on September 2.

No club has yet done the double over the Minstermen in 2017/18 and Law is ready to set the record straight.

“It was a really poor afternoon,” remembered the Nottingham-born 28-year-old of the Chorley loss. “The pitch wasn’t great and they turned us over.

“They beat us physically and maybe mentally, because we didn’t seem to be up for it that day and that showed, so we are out to get revenge. If we beat them, we’ll also put a bit of distance between us and them, as we did with Southport.”

Law went on to insist that nobody was being sidetracked by the off-pitch drama, following chairman Jason McGill’s decision to put the club up for sale.

“The fans are all wondering what’s happening, but the communication to us as players from the manager and (sporting director) Dave Penney has been pretty good,” he said. “If it hadn’t, it can become a distraction, but they spoke to us about it last week and on the day of the Southport game to reassure us, so we can just focus on the field.”