RORY McArdle admits he faces a fight to chalk up his 200th City appearance.

The Northern Ireland international is currently one short of the milestone and played his first game yesterday since undergoing a shoulder operation in May.

McArdle came through the whole 90 minutes for the reserves against Hartlepool – but he is not expecting an immediate return to senior action.

Romain Vincelot has slotted in confidently at centre half so far this season and McArdle, Matt Kilgallon and Nathan Clarke, who trained fully again on Monday, are all battling to be involved.

"A lot of managers would take that sort of quality for competition for places," said McArdle.

"Lads can get a little complacent if they know that generally they are going to start, regardless of how they have played.

"Now, if you're not playing well you'll soon find yourself out of the team or maybe not even involved at all. Everyone has got to be on their toes.

"You look at the start we've had, it's been brilliant. People would have looked at our away fixtures and seen they were tough games but we've come out on the right end of them.

"I knew that once I was back in the fold it wasn't going to be a case of walking back into the team.

"But it's helped me quite a lot watching the games and seeing the lads doing well. It's not a negative environment to come back in."

McArdle underwent surgery to strengthen his left shoulder, which he had dislocated at Bury in March. He was pleased to report no issues from it during yesterday's game at Billingham Town.

The City defender said: "It's been a long old summer. As soon as the season finished, the surgery took place straight away so there was a few weeks in a sling doing nothing.

"After that, it was like learning to walk again – but to get 90 minutes feels like you can see the light at the end of the tunnel now.

"I haven't had any problems with the shoulder. You almost want to get that first tackle and header in to see that it's fine.

"As much as you try to replicate that on the training ground, the lads have always been a bit wary and I'd rather they tried to hammer me a little bit.

"I landed on it, headed on it, pushed away on it and it wasn't a problem. I'll continue with the gym work keeping it strong.

"It's frustrating to have missed games but I'm sure 99.9 per cent of players would say they hate not being involved on a Saturday. It's part of your routine.

"It happens to everyone at some point in their careers and is just another hurdle you've got to look to get over. If and when my chance comes, I've got to make sure that I take it."