KEITH Lowe is committed to doing his best in any formation for York City, whilst admitting that he felt the team improved after changing to 4-3-3 during their last match against Oxford.

The Minstermen have alternated between 4-3-3 and 3-5-2 throughout September with Lowe either lining up on the right side of a three-man defence or as an orthodox centre-half at the heart of a flat back four.

City struggled with the wing-back system for the first half-hour of Tuesday's 2-1 home defeat to Oxford, falling behind to Danny Hylton's tenth-minute goal.

Rhys Turner then equalised after the tactical switch and, even though Kemar Roofe went on to grab a winning goal for the visitors in the second half, Lowe said: "I thought we were much better when we switched formation.

"They were finding pockets of space and Roofe was getting in great areas to pick the ball up in, but we nailed that down during the last 15 or 20 minutes of the first half and caught them a couple of times on the break and the goal gave us a bit of extra belief to express ourselves more. But my preference in terms of the system we play doesn't really matter.

"Whatever the team needs, I'm happy with and I'd play in goal if it helps the side. Everyone has to give 100 per cent in whatever formation we play in and wear our heart on our sleeves."

With City having won just one of their last eight matches, Lowe added that self-belief at Bootham Crescent has taken a bit of a hit in recent times, but he is optimistic that the club can engineer an upturn in fortunes, ahead of tomorrow's home game with Cambridge.

"Confidence isn't high at the moment," the 30-year-old defender confessed. "We didn't play very well at Notts County and knew we had to react to that by putting our best foot forward (on Tuesday night) and trying to do everything we can.

"Now, we need to be positive again, lick our wounds and go all out with fresh faces to get three points against Cambridge. We've got a great set of lads and we can really pull together to turn things around."

While reasoning that sixth-placed Oxford were strong opponents, Lowe also felt the hosts could take heart from elements of their performance prior to Cambridge's visit.

"It was another tough game against a side who are right up there and rightly so," Lowe suggested of the U's clash. "I've played against Danny Hylton countless times and he's a good footballer who works hard.

"They also had good players coming off the bench and they have a bit of an embarrassment of riches going forward but I like to pit my wits against the division's best players and I felt we showed that we can compete with teams like that with bigger budgets. Things just didn't go our way.

"For their winning goal, Godders (Ben Godfrey) did well and put himself in a very good position to clear the ball but it ended up hitting their player on the chest and going in, which is just how it goes for you when you're down near the bottom, but we've got to do everything we can to turn that around and I think we will. There were a lot of positive moments against a good side and we can concentrate on them, along with putting the mistakes right.

"We created quite a few chances and they weren't necessarily defensively sound. I don't think they were the best back four we have played this season but we didn't win the game so credit to them."