YORK City are targeting a minimum of 10 points from their next four National League North fixtures.

The Minstermen have taken 12 from a possible 15 in February and manager Steve Watson has set his next challenge for his improving team.

Saturday’s trip to 17th-placed Leamington is the start of a quartet of contests which also includes a visit to second-bottom FC United of Manchester interspersed with home meetings against Altrincham and Boston, whose respective league positions of seventh and 10th could make such matches key encounters if Watson’s men are to make a late bid for the play-offs.

Outlining Watson’s approach to the next four weekends, left-back David Ferguson revealed: “He wants standards all the time and you can’t let them drop individually or as a team. He always wants you to be better in the next game and wants more from you.

“He’s set us a target of at least 10 points from the next four games and, with us building some momentum, it feels like we’re on a high.”

City are yet to beat Leamington in three meetings as sixth-tier foes, drawing each match 2-2, with the Warwickshire side having fought back each time – twice from 2-0 down.

While wary of that record, Ferguson now reckons the Minstermen are less susceptible to late capitulations.

“They’re quite hot and cold and I expect they’ll play a long-ball game as they have done in the past, but I know we’ve been 2-0 up against them twice in the last two seasons and ended up drawing 2-2,” Ferguson said. “Now, though, I feel if we do concede, we’re staying high mentally and pushing on again.

“We’ve started getting a few late goals ourselves and, while I think we do look fitter, I think that boils down to concentration and organisation. There’s a proper togetherness and everyone is switched on and knows their jobs.”

City’s only previous visit to the New Windmill Ground saw Ferguson net on his debut for the club from left-back and, with fellow full-back Kallum Griffiths, centre-half Hamza Bencherif and midfielder Scott Burgess having all got on the scoresheet during the last two matches, he feels the side are starting to look potent in more areas of the pitch.

He also credits new midfielders Burgess and Paddy McLaughlin, as well as previously-overlooked attackers Wes York and Alex Kempster, with helping establish additional goal sources beyond leading marksman Jordan Burrow.

“I feel we’re stronger in different positions now,” Ferguson reasoned. “We’ve got Wes’ pace down the sides and Alex Kempster is also a threat.

“I think we have quality in midfield now as well that means we are creating more chances and they’re opening up to different people. Set-pieces also won us the game against Nuneaton, so we’re improving in different aspects.”

Ferguson went on to highlight the team’s switch to a 4-3-3 formation as a factor in the reversal of fortunes.

“It’s working at the moment so you can’t question it,” he argued. “Everybody knows what they need to do in each position and, with Newts (Sean Newton) alongside me and Paddy and Kemps in front of me, I feel we’ve got a good understanding of each other’s games.”

Bottom-of-the-table Nuneaton paid Ferguson a compliment by man-marking him whenever City were in possession during Saturday’s 2-0 win and the forward-thinking former Blackpool full-back confessed the contest did provide a “strange” type of challenge before second-half goals by York and Bencherif eventually settled matters.

“It was one of those games where they put all 11 men behind the ball and just let Newts and Mirf (David Mirfin) have it at the back,” he explained. “There was a bit of banter flying about and Newts asked one of the forwards why he was playing wing-back.

“It was a bit strange because I’d be three-quarters down the pitch and their number nine was chasing me down and, when they cleared the ball, nobody would be up there.

"It was a bit of an attack-v-defence training exercise, so we just had to work on breaking them down and we had a few chances in the first half that should really have gone in to give us a 2-0 lead at least going into the break.

“But it shows how much we have come on that were patient and grabbed a goal in the second half before going on to get another.”

Keeper Adam Bartlett also made two stunning saves to preserve all three points after a small error-prone spell of games, which Ferguson always backed him to recover from, with the pair past team-mates at Darlington too.

“Everyone has spells where they have one or two off days, but Barts has shown how strong he is mentally to get over that hurdle,” Ferguson said. “They had two chances (on Saturday) where we saw his quality with the saves he pulled off and, in games like that where you’re doing most of the attacking, you need your keeper to maintain his concentration.”

Ferguson is contracted to the Minstermen next season and therefore had reason to be more disappointed than most when it was revealed last week the new community stadium would not be ready for the start of the 2019/20 campaign. But he reasoned: “I don’t mind.

“It was a bit sad to hear that it was being put back but, if we have to wait, there’s nothing we can do. We’ll eventually get in it and I’m looking forward to it.”