Cheers. That's the toast hoisted aloft by defensive titan Chris Fairclough after lifting The Unique Pub Co/ Evening Press new player-of-the year award, writes Dave Stanford.

The seasoned campaigner may have been absent for the majority of the second-half of the campaign due to injury, but a string of consistent performances prior to Christmas meant the former Leeds rock was a comfortable winner.

As well as his player of the year trophy, Fairclough won £350 courtesy of sponsors The Unique Pub Co - mine host to pubs in York and across the country - with runner-up Christian Fox earning £150.

A thrilled Fairclough, who is to undergo a minor knee operation tomorrow, said: "It is a great honour to win any award and this is no exception, especially as I have missed much of the latter part of the campaign through injury.

"It has been a difficult year but at least we ended it in a positive manner which gives us hope for next season."

Unique Pub Co's operations manager, Chris Fawdington, a lifelong City fan, said the end of season revival sparked by Terry Dolan and City had ensured the company would be sponsoring the awards next season too.

The player of the year was determined by the average mark out of ten awarded by the Evening Press for each League and cup match with players having figured for at least 20 minutes.