SHAY McCartan is wishing for the luck of the Irish in 2020.

The City forward believes a change of fortune is well overdue after a frustrating first half of the season back with the Bantams.

Having won the League Two trophy during his year-long loan with Lincoln, McCartan is aiming to repeat the trick at Valley Parade.

But Sunday’s win over Mansfield saw only his second start since returning to City - and his first in the league since before he was pushed out the door by Edin Rahic.

McCartan admitted: “It feels great to be back out there again.

“It’s been difficult for me this season with different sorts of niggles that I’ve not had before. But I’m feeling fit now and hopefully they’ve gone.

“I’ve played bounce games but it’s not the same as in the league. Getting some minutes in will only do me the world of good and now I want to kick on.”

It was not the easiest situation to return on Sunday on a heavy Valley Parade pitch against a Mansfield side whose physical approach was not conducive to the way McCartan likes to play.

But it was familiar territory for the Irishman who experienced plenty of those type of battles during his successful season with the Imps.

McCartan knows that ugly wins like that can be worth their weight in gold come the business end of the promotion race.

“You look back at important games at the end of the season,” he added. “It’s about days like Sunday where it wasn’t pretty but wins like that are often sweeter than when you might win 4-0 or 5-0.

“You come off the pitch with cuts and bruises and feeling sore and there are people playing with the flu. It’s one where you have to dig deep and work very hard.

“Mansfield play a certain style and you’ve got to match them. The pitch didn’t help as well but we played great football against Salford and passed along the deck and on Sunday we showed we could battle.

“It was a very physical game, all about competing for second balls, and I don’t think Mansfield really had a chance worth worrying about.

“We worked very hard as a unit and defended magnificently. The three points were all we were looking for and it didn’t matter how we got them.

“We are six unbeaten and we’ve shown the strength in depth in the squad.

“We still want more because there are other games we felt we should have won.

“It’s time to push on now. We’ve had a lot of flu and illness but the lads coming in have done a good job.”

Seeing in the new year with a home game against second-from-bottom Morecambe offers another inviting opportunity to bank more points before the weekend trip to leaders Swindon.

But McCartan insists City must be up for another scrap to see off opponents who have changed managers since the away win at the Globe Arena three months ago.

He said: “Derek Adams has taken over there and it will be difficult. We played Morecambe in October and they were a tough side to play against.

“I don’t think their league position reflects how they are as a team.

“They’ve got a small budget but I know a lot of the players there and they are good ones despite where they are in the table.

"They can cause problems for us. We’re going to have to be ready for that.

“But we’ve grinded out the results well. We’ve not lost a lot games, even if we’ve not played well.

“We’re picking up points. It’s not always pretty out there but if every game is like that and we’re grinding out the wins, then we’ll take it.”