YORK City are guaranteed to move out of the National League relegation positions by winning their next two home games and Jon Parkin believes that would be a “massive lift” in the fight for survival.

Bootham Crescent victories over Braintree this weekend and Bromley on Tuesday night - when none of the clubs immediately above them are in action - would lift the Minstermen above tomorrow’s visitors and Woking in the table.

Should Maidstone fail to beat Barrow at home and Torquay lose in front of their own fans to Jon McCarthy’s Chester team during the Saturday programme of matches, then City would also rise to seventh-bottom in the standings, having occupied a place in the drop zone since November.

Parkin, who won promotion to the Premier League with Stoke in 2008 and has 190 career goals to his name, has admitted, meanwhile, that keeping his current club in the highest echelon of non-League football would represent a career highlight.

He said: “When we win, other teams seem to win, so they’re doing their jobs and that’s why we knew Macclesfield was a must-win game on Tuesday, as it was one of our games in hand. We’ve got two home games now and, if we can take six points, it won’t just bridge the gap, it will bring some others into the equation.

“I think we’ve just got to get out of that bottom four because that will be a massive lift for everybody and nobody can question the lads’ effort and desire in every game. We want to get out of it as much as anybody and, if we can get safe, it will be a well-earned holiday.

“It would also be an achievement that would be right up there with anything else for me, even though avoiding relegation is not what you’re hoping for at the start of a season. It’s of massive importance and I really like this football club, chairman and manager.

“This football club can’t be going down to National League North. It’s too big a club with too much tradition and we’re aiming to stop that happening.”

Parkin has played every minute of the Minstermen’s last nine games, including two hours in the FA Trophy semi-final, second leg at Lincoln and the whole match on a Sutton 3G pitch that’s unforgiving on his 35-year-old knees.

Twenty-somethings Sean Newton and Hamza Bencherif are the only players who can match Parkin’s ever-present record during that busy 32-day period.

The latter has occasionally been sent for a swim instead of participating in training and, after jokingly asking via Twitter if anybody was selling a 21-year-old’s legs following the midweek match at Macclesfield, Parkin suggested that sensible work schedules are vital from here on in, with the whole squad enjoying a two-day rest following the Moss Rose exertions.

“Playing so many matches is tough, but it’s all about recovery in between games,” Parkin explained. “Nobody is happy as a player when they’re not playing, so you can’t complain when you are.

“It’s all about managing yourself before games. Even when I do train, I know what I need to be doing and might take it easier than the other lads, because it’s all about experience and knowing what my body needs.”

Having witnessed pre-eminent long-throw specialist Rory Delap at first hand during their days as Stoke team-mates, Parkin went on to reason that City’s left-back Sam Muggleton is just as capable with his hands, having teed up the final goal in Tuesday’s 3-1 win for the 6ft 4in forward.

Outlining Muggleton’s threat, Parkin pointed out: “I played with Rory Delap at Stoke and his long throw helped us get promoted. Sam’s is similar and, when you think it’s about to drop, it just seems to keep going and going.

“That makes it really hard to defend against and, if we get enough bodies in the box, you know something will drop. For the one on Tuesday, Hamza flicked it on and Scotty (Flinders) saved it.

“Then, the ball got stuck between me, Scotty and a defender and I managed to muscle it over the line. It was probably the least yardage I’ve ever scored a goal, but I should have got one before then by perhaps taking a touch first.”

The goal was Parkin’s 14th of the season, including four with previous club at Newport.

With seven league games and the FA Trophy final left to play, it is conceivable that the one-time Hull and Cardiff forward could break the 20-goal barrier – a landmark he has twice achieved before in his career – at Macclesfield in 2005 and for Forest Green ten years later.

Typically, though, it is the team’s fortunes, rather than his own, that are consuming Parkin’s thoughts.

“Getting 20 goals would be nice but, if I don’t score anymore and we stay up, I would be more than chuffed with that,” he declared. “Amari (Morgan-Smith) and Vadaine (Oliver) are both scoring as well, which takes a bit of pressure off.

“I feel that we’re always likely to score as a team and there won’t be too many defences wanting to play against us.”