SET-PIECE specialist Kallum Griffiths has admitted that his dead-ball deliveries have benefitted from full-time training at York City.

Griffiths’ free kicks and corners have proven the Minstermen’s most reliable source of attacking opportunities this term, but he confessed the quality has improved after his step up from nine years as a semi-professional with Spennymoor.

The 28-year-old right back provided the free kick that saw Joe Tait head home City’s second goal in a 2-0 win at Ashton United last week, before creating a succession of chances in last Saturday’s 1-1 home draw against Curzon Ashton.

Crediting his set-play accuracy to the extra hours he is spending on the training ground, Griffiths said: “I took all the free kicks at my last club, but not all of them were good mind.

“We do practice them a lot in training here and it’s helped me that I’m doing that four times a week now, rather than once or twice as a part-time player. We look dangerous with them and it’s just about hitting good areas, because we’ve got big lads to aim for who are really good in the air and, when you look up and see the size of those heads in the box, it does give you confidence.”

With Tait having followed Griffiths to Bootham Crescent over the summer after the pair spent four years together at Spennymoor, the latter added that the goal at Ashton was not the first of its kind though.

“We got a lot of goals like that at Spennymoor,” he declared. “Sometimes, Joe got a bit angry with me when I didn’t get it inch perfect, but that’s how he is.”

The one-time Sunderland academy player also believes he is now growing accustomed to the transition from part-time to full-time footballer, pointing out: “I felt a bit stiff in games at first having trained all week, but I was a lot looser and fitter in the last game.”

Griffiths is expecting to be given a good work-out tomorrow afternoon, however, against a Brackley team that he rated as the best in National League North last season despite their final finish of third in the standings.

Spennymoor were beaten 2-0 and 3-0 by the Saints in 2017/18 but did the double over league runners-up and play-off final winners Harrogate and took a point off champions Salford.

On Brackley’s threat, Griffiths added: “They’re a big, strong organised team and, when I was at Spennymoor, I thought they were the best team we played against last season, but there’s no reason we can’t go there and do a job on them.”

City will then return to Bootham Crescent for a clash against Blyth Spartans on Monday with Griffiths suggesting that the players need to be braver than they were during the last home match – and Martin Gray’s final fixture as manager – when the home fans vented their frustration.

“This is a massive club and, after back-to-back relegations, the fans just want to see the team play well,” he argued. “When they’re unhappy, they don’t mean anything by it – they don’t want to get the lads’ heads down, they just want to see success and I think it will come.

“If we get that first full 90-minute performance, the confidence will come, and we’ll kick on. In the last game, we tried a few things in the first half that didn’t come off and, then, a few players’ heads went down, but I feel we’ve got to be braver on the ball because, when we attack down the flanks with pace, we can be dangerous.”