DARRYL Duffy is striving for greater consistency as he bids to fire Cheltenham Town into League One.

The Scottish forward netted his 12th goal of the season in Tuesday night's 4-2 defeat at title rivals and new League Two leaders Crawley Town after joining the action from the substitutes' bench.

He maintained his impressive strike rate, having started only 18 matches this season, but the 27-year-old now wants a sustained run in the team for the final three months of the campaign.

"I have been in and out of the team all season really and my best run of games and form was probably leading up to Luton in December, when I was sent off, and I have been in and out since then," Duffy said.

"I am looking for more consistency and maybe being more selfish in front of goal, but as long as the team are picking up results, I'll be happy.

"The team's been playing well, apart from Tuesday night, but Crawley is such a hard place to go. I think I have done myself no harm and given the manager something to think about, which is all I can do."

Former Swansea City and Hull City striker Duffy's intermittent appearances have been largely due to the fact that boss Mark Yates has opted to start with a lone striker almost exclusively since the 3-1 win at Bristol Rovers in October.

That means Duffy has spent time in a wide right role as well as having to go it alone at times, which is something he believes no front man thrives on.

"Everybody knows I prefer playing up with a strike partner because it suits my game better, but the gaffer has changed system and it's worked wonders," he said.

"The lone role is tough to play and most strikers would prefer to play up front with a partner, but you have to do your best in whatever role you are put in.

"We had a go at Crawley for the last 20 minutes and caused them a few problems when we went to 4-4-2 because they have two big, strong centre-backs and it made a difference going two up.

" Jimmy (Spencer) and I could occupy them and it was much easier for them with just Jeff (Goulding) up there. The change in system helped and we can take positives from that."

Duffy will be hoping for a recall at Hereford United tomorrow afternoon as Cheltenham look to return to winning ways by seeing off their rivals for the first time in a Football League fixture.

"Derby matches always have that little bit more and we need to be on it because Hereford went away with a 0-0 at our place," Duffy said.

"They frustrated us that day so we will be looking forward to going there and getting a win.

"Crawley have a game in hand, but they still need to win it or we'll be right in there again, but I think we are still right in there anyway.

"We have a tough run coming up and by the end of February we'll be in a more realistic position to see where we're likely to finish."