Chris Atkinson has finally had a taste of Valley Parade – and now he is hungry for more.

The on-loan Huddersfield midfielder has had to bide his time since arriving in the raft of loanees during the January transfer window.

While Adam Reach and Kyle Bennett have both had the chance to make their mark, Atkinson has so far been limited to a bench role.

But after his 25-minute input into City’s win over MK Dons, Atkinson is eager to provide more home help against Stevenage.

He said: “I’ve been sitting patiently and it was great to get out there.

“I came on with half an hour to go in a tight game and luckily we then got the goal and, most importantly, the three points.

“As a footballer you’ve got to keep working hard on the training pitch and be ready when the chance comes along. That’s what I aim to do.

“The manager has had me in after training and talked me through what he wants and expects and I’ve been happy with it so far.”

Atkinson’s debut a month ago at Wolves hardly came in the best circumstances. With Nathan Doyle red-carded so early in the game, it was a very different role for a player who likes to push on as City’s ten men tried valiantly to contain the promotion favourites.

After sitting out the next three, Atkinson got his second outing last week when Phil Parkinson wanted to even up the numbers with the Milton Keynes midfield.

James Hanson pounced for the only goal seven minutes later and set up the potential of making a home hat-trick of wins this afternoon.

Atkinson added: “It’s a results business and wins are all that matter.

“The performances were there, even before I came, but we had a lot of draws. Now the place is buzzing.

“Six points out of six, and hopefully nine from nine after today, shoots us right back up the league where we belong.

“It’s so important that you win the home games. Keep doing that and we can look to finish as high as possible.

“We’ve just beaten the two teams directly above us and I felt we matched Preston and were really unlucky not to get more from that.

“If we can get another three points against Stevenage then it sets us up going into the tough away games coming up.”

Meanwhile, it appears that the Mark Stewart saga will continue to drag on. The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s ruling on City’s appeal is now not expected until March 14.