Assistant manager Danny Nicholls admitted he has been delighted with Oxford City’s transformation into Vanarama play-off contenders, writes MATTHEW BRUCE.

The former Kettering Town and Corby Town coach was recruited by general manager Justin Merritt during the summer, following a difficult second season in the league.

But Nicholls said he was always confident City would be competing at the right end of the table this time.

“It might sound a bit arrogant, but I’ve never been at a club that’s not around the top of any league,” he said.

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“I certainly had it in my head that I wanted to help Justin put a team together that can compete, but having that in your head and actually putting it on the pitch are different things.”

So far the plan has been a success.

City stand eighth in the table, just one point behind the play-off positions, despite yesterday’s match at Chorley being postponed due to a frozen pitch.

It’s a remarkable achievement for a side who were only spared relegation last season by the resignation of Vauxhall Motors.

Nicholls feels City’s improvement so far this season has been due to a different playing style – a change he says has been em-braced by the players.

“I think you can see with how we play that they’re enjoying it,” Nicholls said.

“It’s about the players buying into it and believing in what you do, because ultimately it’s the players that have got to go and do it.

“The ethos is to play football, but I think more and more as the season goes on we’re going to pick our moments when to play football because teams know how we play now.

“But I’m glad that all the players we’ve brought in and all the players we had from last season have actually bought into what we want to do and taken it on board.”

In order to aid City’s transition into an attractive footballing side, they have adopted a rather unorthodox recruitment method.

Utilising the contacts of head coach Enrique Guillen, City imported several players from Spain during the summer.

Five of those have gone on to become mainstays in the side, and Nicholls was full of praise for them.

He said: “They’ve been very professional in their approach.

“I think with them being the technical players they are it’s been a massive help for the English boys to see how they do things.

“You can see their quality on the ball. Just look at Jose (Lapoujade) and Adrian (Santiago) at the back, they’re as good on the ball as any midfield and forward players in this league.

“That’s been good for the English boys to see that they can play how we’re asking them to play.”

However, Nicholls stressed that results were more important than their style of play.

“We don’t just play nice football,” he added.

“We can actually win games and be up there competing while playing the right way.

“We are a footballing team that wins games of football.”

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