MIDFIELDER Neil Barrett had to wait 12 games before making new York City manager Gary Mills’ first 11 but he never felt the writing was on the wall for him at Bootham Crescent.

Said Barrett, who has started the last two matches: “I knew if I worked hard in training my chance would come. I’ve never been one to throw in the towel.

“The manager saw my efforts in training and that’s paid off for me. I’m delighted and, as long as I continue playing and training as I am, hopefully I can stay in the team.”

Barrett is also revelling in the three-man midfield axis Mills favours, which he feels plays to his attacking strengths with less reliance on one marksman, as was sometimes the case with 37-goal striker Richard Brodie last season.

“I like the way the manager wants to play,” said Barrett. “I feel the formation suits me and I am enjoying it.

“The system seems to be reaping its rewards in that we are not conceding many goals and are scoring a few at the other end. At the moment, both me and Jonathan Smith are given license to get in the box because somebody is sitting in behind us and we are creating chances.

“There are different people on the scoresheet rather than just one player and that’s difficult to play against.”

Since breaking back into the team for the abandoned match at Luton, Barrett has had to endure the frustration of three postponements from the next four fixtures.

The latest came on Monday when the home match with Fleetwood was frozen off just 48 hours after a 3-0 win at Gateshead.

Barrett and his City team-mates trained on the Bootham Crescent pitch, however, shortly after it was deemed unplayable and the Tooting-born 29-year-old felt the match could have gone ahead.

He said: “It was up to the ref but we would have liked to have played and were a bit disappointed that the game was not on. The pitch was no worse than what we played on at Kidderminster and Luton.”

Despite being 11 points adrift of the play-off places, Barrett has also been careful not to schedule anything in his diary for the middle of May.

Last year, he was forced to forego his Las Vegas stag do when City finished in the top five before going on to reach the Blue Square Bet Premier play-off final and, with the club having lost just once in the league since Mills’ mid-October arrival, he is taking no risks this time around.

He said: “I’ve got nothing planned because you never know what can happen if we put a run together. Nobody is running away at the top as such and, if we can carry on doing what we are doing and not worry about anybody else, then we can be there or thereabouts.”