The former Sheffield United starlet is the first to admit he didn't do himself justice in the first few months of the campaign, although there were mitigating circumstances.

Namely a nagging ankle injury, which had hindered him from pre-season and failed to show signs of clearing up when the season got underway.

Nix stoically soldiered on, despite the problem, but things came to a head after the schemer's below-par performance in the televised loss to League Two promotion rivals Darlington late last month.

Following a brief substitute appearance against Barnet the following Saturday, City boss Stuart McCall, pictured right, – who worked with Nix during his stint on the management staff at Bramall Lane – told the Rotherham-raised ace to put his feet up for a few weeks in a bid to rectify the problem.

A scan thankfully revealed no serious damage, to the relief of Nix, who seriously injured the same ankle during a trial stint at Grimsby a few seasons ago.

A few weeks down the road and Nix successfully came through the full 90 minutes of the reserve clash with Middlesbrough earlier this week, despite a minor scare when he took a hefty knock.

But having suffered ill effects from that, Nix is now raring to go again, with his availability a big boost to boss McCall, down to the bare bones in terms of midfield options for most of this month with Nix, Dean Furman, Lee Bullock, Chris Brandon and Joe Colbeck having all been on the sidelines.

On his comeback against Boro, Nix, 22, told Yorkshire Sport: "I enjoyed it. Fitness-wise, it was good for me – although my fitness is good anyway.

"My ankle stood up well; although I got a knock with about 15 minutes left, which I thought was quite bad.

"It was a bad bang and I thought it was in the same place as my injury. I thought 'bloody hell, here we go again!' But it stiffened up a bit and I got some ice on it after training and it feels alright now."

On how his ankle injury first surfaced, he explained: "Basically in pre-season, we had programmes to do, running-wise. In the week before we came in for pre-season, the running got a bit more intense and I went for a run and my ankle had been feeling sore a couple of weeks before.

"I went in to see the new physio and told him about it.