YORK City top scorer Jake Hyde is hoping to hold on to his place during the last six games of the season.

The ten-goal striker is impressed with the current competition for his place provided by on-loan trio Shaq Coulthirst, Shaun Miller and Josh O’Hanlon.

Hyde played alongside all three forwards during separate stages of Friday’s 1-0 home win over Cheltenham and is expected to start this afternoon’s away match at Oxford with Tottenham forward Coulthirst as his attacking partner for a third consecutive match.

But the Maidenhead-born, 24-year-old is not taking his place for granted.

Hyde has started 27 matches this season whilst others such as Ryan Brunt, Deon Burton, Michael Coulson, Diego De Girolamo, Wes Fletcher, Ben Hirst, Ryan Jarvis, Carlton Morris and Emile Sinclair have also led the line for City in 2014/15.

On his present potential striking foils, Hyde said: “Shaq is a different type of player to the others I’ve played up front with this season. He’s got quick feet and is a threat, so it’s nice to have him alongside me but we’ve got good options at the moment.

“Shaun Miller came on and did brilliantly against Cheltenham. He is very tidy on the ball and has got a good goalscoring record, which you can see in training.

“He’s played a lot of games even though he’s not too old and he’s played at a good level. Josh, meanwhile, is hungry to show he can do well at this level.

“Hopefully, they can help us get over the line. I think I’ve had close to double figures in strike partners this season and, if I keep scoring and we’re winning games, I’m hoping I’ll stay in the team.”

Hyde looked in discomfort as he received treatment from City physio Jeff Miller late on against Cheltenham but is expecting to be fit enough to face Oxford today.

“I hyper-extended my knee and I was nervous for a moment because it was very sore but I think it will be fine,” he explained.

Like City, Oxford have won their last two games, winning 3-2 at promotion hopefuls Wycombe after defeating Carlisle 2-1 at home six days earlier.

On the challenge ahead, Hyde reasoned: “We cannot be over-confident. They’re on a really good run and have won two on the bounce.

“We’re also going to their place so we have to give them the respect they deserve but we’ll go there knowing we can get a result.”

Ahead of returning to the road for a third away game in four fixtures, the ex-England C international also spoke of his pleasure at giving the Minstermen’s home supporters something to cheer about, following only the club’s third Bootham Crescent triumph of the campaign.

He said: “The fans have not seen the best results and games here and it was good to get a home victory for them, even though it’s nice to win anywhere. It was a massive three points and we were absolutely buzzing with the result.

“It doesn’t matter how you play in these situations because you just need to get results but I thought we caused them problems and it felt quite comfortable because Inghy (Michael Ingham) didn’t have too many saves to make. After Dave (Winfield)’s goal, I thought if anybody was going to score again it would be us.”