MALACHI Fagan-Walcott is loving every minute of pulling on the York City shirt – especially after aiding the Minstermen in their 2-0 win over Oldham Athletic last night.

The centre-back initially joined York in the Summer on a loan deal from Cardiff City, which was made permanent after a fantastic start to life in North Yorkshire.

Fagan-Walcott has quickly solidified his spot in the first-team and alongside captain Callum Howe, with the pair forming a formidable partnership in City’s back line.

It was Fagan-Walcott who got York’s 2-0 win over Oldham Athletic off to the perfect start on Tuesday night, when reacting quickest to volley home the rebound from an Alex Hunt free-kick that struck the upright.

“I don’t remember it, I think I mis-hit it!” Fagan-Walcott laughed to BBC York.

“The scruffy ones are always the best.

“When I saw Hunty over it, I went to the other side of the wall because I knew that Hunty was getting it over the wall, and if it doesn’t go in, then I’ll be there.

“When I went to that side, I looked at the defender and he was just dreaming.

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“If this drops, I’d be the first to watch the line, and luckily it did.

“It was brilliant, I think that the boys, everyone from the coaching staff, was brilliant.

“We knew that on the weekend we weren’t great and we thought that we had to come and show the fans who we are.

“That’s not us, that you saw on the weekend, so hopefully the fans think we did that because we certainly did.

“We just thought that it’s not us, and you could see around the dressing room before the game that everyone was just locked in.

“We knew that we were going to go out there, fight and get a result.

“It’s frustrating because we know that we can play like this but we didn’t, that’s where that frustration comes from.

“But if that didn’t happen on the weekend, would we have had the same reaction?

"You have to think of it as this game is the standard, every game, we’ve got to keep playing and fight for the badge and keep going.

“When the second goal went in, going in at 2-0 was brilliant.

“It makes us a bit more comfortable but 2-0 is also a horrible scoreline, because if they get one back, then they’re really on it.

“We’re always trying to push for that third, but I feel like going in at 1-0 or 2-0 was always the best.

“At 3-0 you feel more calm, but at 2-0 you feel as if you need to make sure they don’t get anything.

“That’s what we did today.

“As a player I don’t really look at statements, if we take every game by game and just focus on our games, people will be looking from the outside and saying that we’re good and then we have a chance.

“We let them talk, we just focus on the pitch.”

Fagan-Walcott has become a fan favourite in his time with York so far, which made the decision to make his move permanent all the easier for the centre-back.

At just 22-years-old, Fagan-Walcott felt that continuing his development with City was the ideal decision with game time a guarantee, along with playing alongside a centre-back with as much experience and pedigree as Howe, who has helped his partner to further his game.

Fagan-Walcott explained: “It was, it was an easy decision for me.

“It was hard to leave Cardiff but I felt as if development for me, this was the best thing for me.

“I’m young and I need to play games, I’ve been here before and had been here since the beginning of the season, and I’ve enjoyed every second of it.

“When the time came and my agent told me there were talks about it, I was 100 per cent from the beginning.

“He [Howe] helps me, he said before I came, are you going to tell them that I keep carrying you through?

“He helps me a lot, it’s a privilege to be fair.

“He doesn’t miss a header, he wins everything and there are little things that I can pick up on because he has played many more games than me.

“Big praise to him.”