THE mask is off for Adam Chicksen – and so are the gloves.

City’s left back has been happy to consign the facial protection to the bottom drawer.

And Valley Parade fans will feel they are starting to see his full repertoire as he continues to emerge from the long shadow cast by predecessor James Meredith.

The peach of a cross – delivered with his right foot – for Charlie Wyke to nod the opening goal on Saturday was evidence of the quality he can possess going forward.

Chicksen’s part in a third clean sheet in four games was also proof of a developing bond within the back four and keeper Colin Doyle.

“It’s great to get into my stride a bit more now,” said Chicksen, after a stop-start opening month to his City career.

“It’s what I’ve wanted. I’m finding my feet after missing games through the (cheekbone) injury and then suspension.

“I can feel I’m getting into my rhythm, my positioning and focus and I’m going into each game thinking where I can improve.

“I’m really happy that it’s going that way, although I’m happier for the team and how we’re seeing out games.

“Barring last Tuesday against Fleetwood, we’ve looked really solid and united as a team. That’s a good thing to see for any player.”

Chicksen’s early season has already been more eventful than most.

It was barely 15 minutes old when he suffered that sickening aerial collision with Blackpool’s Oliver Turton.

That ruled him out for four weeks and when he did return wearing a mask for protection, his second game back ended in ignominy with a late red card against Peterborough.

Chicksen admitted: “It was a stupid red card and I can only look at myself for that.

“I forgot I was on the yellow already because the first one was so quick.

“Literally the free-kick happened and I ran back to get in my position, then the breakaway happened and my natural instinct was to slow the play down however I could.

“It was still silly but it’s behind me and hopefully I’ve learned not to do something as stupid as that again.”

Lesson learned with missing the draw at Oxford, his immediate recall to the starting line-up has coincided with a hat-trick of shut-outs. City had kept only one in their nine outings before that.

It helps to have a settled defence and Chicksen can feel the understanding growing within the group. For him, that has meant working well with left-sided centre half Matt Kilgallon.

He added: “I can feel it developing. You start to build a relationship with your partner – you know his strengths and weaknesses and where he wants you to be.

“Communication has been good across all five of us at the back. We’re all talking well and on each other all the time about positioning and where you should be for helping the people in front of us.

“I think you can see that in the past few games. We’ve looked solid.

“But it comes from the front – the strikers and midfield are working just as hard to make our jobs easier.”

Stuart McCall declared himself delighted with a points-laden September which saw City win five out of seven in the league to move into third place.

After the near-miss at Wembley at the end of last season, it has been a powerful response from a heavily-rebuilt side.

Chicksen, the first of the summer recruits, has been equally impressed at how they have hit the ground running.

“It takes time to gel,” he said. “In some cases, it never happens when you put that many players together.

“But we’ve got a great group of lads here, all hungry and wanting to achieve stuff. You can feel that coming from the manager and the chairman as well.

“You’ve got a really good mix of young, old, experienced. They haven’t signed players who are happy just to let the season pass them by.

“They’ve got hungry people who want to achieve success. I certainly do and I’m just hoping that we can carry it on throughout the season.”

But there is one item that Chicksen has no intention of seeing again.

“The mask has gone away in the drawer,” he laughed. “It’s not back in the Bat Cave!

“It felt strange at first not having to adjust it or move it round. But now it’s hopefully gone for good.”