WINGER Josh Carson hailed a "fantastic" transformation in York City's form in Sky Bet League Two.

The Minstermen have surged up the table since the turn of the year, climbing from just above the relegation spots to the fringes of the play-off zone.

Only full-backs Lanre Oyebanjo and Ben Davies from the team that started against Wycombe at the weekend, kicked off the mid-September home clash with Mansfield when Carson made his second debut for the club as a substitute during a 2-1 defeat.

He has, therefore, witnessed the transformation from relegation candidates to play-off contenders and, on that improvement, remarked: "We have got a fantastic team now and all the players that have come in have been solid. We've got our two banks of four and two forwards who run about and cause teams havoc.

"It's been brilliant to get so many wins. We can grind results out or destroy teams with our football as we have been doing.

"We were struggling against these sides before Christmas but, now, we are looking far superior. We have started to pass and move the ball around nicely and are looking a completely different team from back then.

"Nobody has been looking out for us really, but we have been creeping up the league and, hopefully, we can keep it up without getting too far ahead of ourselves.

"We've got to keep our feet on the ground, but we've been fantastic during the last eight games and we've just got to keep getting more wins and then you never know where we could end up. Hopefully, we can get in those play-offs, because I think we have a team capable of doing that."

Having been part of an Ipswich squad that visited Portsmouth back in their Championship days, Carson is now looking forward to returning there with the Minstermen in front of 16,000 fans and expects his team-mates to thrive at Fratton Park.

On his last trip to the home of the 2008 FA Cup final winners, Carson recalled: "I was on the bench when I went there with Ipswich but it was really good. Their fans are mad, but it's good to have that noise.

"It can be intimidating but we won't let that get to us. It's nice to see a big stadium, a nice pitch and a big crowd and we can take that all in.

"That's not a problem but, as soon as the whistle goes, we are there to work hard and do whatever we need to do to get three points."