ANTHONY STRAKER wants to be considered for permanent selection at left-back for York City.

The former England under-18 international, who has been capped eight times by Grenada, was brought on in defence as a 56th-minute substitute for Femi Ilesanmi during Saturday's 2-0 home defeat to Stevenage.

Despite being recruited to play primarily as a winger by former City chief Nigel Worthington last summer, Straker has pointed out that he is no stranger to the position, having only been switched to an attacking role at the age of 21 and been used in his old berth during several spells since.

Now 26, the Ealing-born left footer has insisted that he can be relied upon to line up in the back four on a full-time basis.

"Left-back is a position I have played in the past and I've probably played there during more than half of the games in my career, so it was nice to feature there and show what I can do," Straker admitted. "I'm happy to be on the pitch wherever I'm playing and, as a professional, even if you're put in goal, you want to do well.

"I'm happy to play any part of a game and it was nice to be put on against Stevenage. Hopefully, there will be more appearances to come for me now."

Straker is yet to start a game since Russ Wilcox took over the managerial reins in mid-October with his second-half outing against Stevenage also representing only the third time he has been used as a substitute under the former Scunthorpe boss.

Part of the reason for that inactivity has been down to injury but, when fit at the turn of the year, Straker was overlooked for Wilcox's 18-man squads.

With a trip to his former club Southend on the horizon a week on Saturday, Straker is now keen to stay in the frame to face a side he played for 80 times in two seasons before turning down a new deal at Roots Hall to join the Minstermen.

On the prospect of an Essex reunion and his bid to continue featuring in City's matchday plans, Straker added: "You always want to go to your old team and get a result so, hopefully, I will be part of things there.

"You get little setbacks in football. That's part of the game.

"I was injured and have been trying to get myself going again but I feel I'm getting back to myself now so, hopefully, I can stay fit and be part of the York City team."

Straker felt, meanwhile, that last week's rare outing for the reserves, in which he scored from the penalty spot during a 1-0 North Riding Senior Cup triumph at Redcar Athletic, proved ideal preparation for when he was required for senior duty for the first time in two months at the weekend.

"It was nice to get the 90 minutes at Redcar because that did help going into the weekend," he reasoned. "My legs felt like they were in working order for the match."

Straker went on to stress that the players are determined to give the Bootham Crescent faithful more to cheer about this weekend when Burton travel to North Yorkshire for a second successive home match.

Commenting on the Stevenage display, he said: "You always think you could have done better after every game you lose and it wasn't one of our better performances, but we know that and want to give more for our fans. I'm sure that this weekend, after another hard week's graft, we can put on a better show against Burton."

The 5ft 9in flank performer has also highlighted the importance of swiftly rediscovering the form that had seen City collect eight points from a possible 12 prior to back-to-back defeats against Wycombe and Stevenage.

"When the team has momentum, you grow as players with the more good results you get so, hopefully, we can get back on track and go again," he explained.