FINAL game of the season. Futures hanging in the balance. Sean Newton knows the score.

Four years ago, the York City utility man was playing for Stockport County in the Blue Square Premier League.

His club was relegated after losing 4-0 to Kidderminster Harriers on the final day of the season.

Tomorrow, Newton will line-up for York knowing defeat to Forest Green Rovers could re-open old wounds.

The Minstermen are a point adrift of safety going into the final game of the National League season, (formerly known as the Blue Square Premier League).

A defeat will condemn his club to life in National League North and all the consequences that brings.

But Newton, who quit Wrexham six months ago, has no intention of suffering relegation heartbreak again.

"We have to win this game," he said. "When I was younger, I got relegated with Stockport so I know what that feeling is like and I have always said I never wanted it again.

"It was a mad season and we had four managers and used more players than here," he recalled. "We lost and got relegated.

"As a player, you don't ever want to get relegated. You want to play in pressure situations but, sadly, this is at the wrong end of the table.

"It's actually exciting," he admitted. "The emotion we will get if we win and stay up will be just as good as if we had won the league. That's how big this game is. There is so much at stake."

Now 28, Newton initially arrived on loan but subsequently signed a deal with a Minstermen until the end of next season.

He had joined the club after working previously with manager Gary Mills at Wrexham and his versatility has been a major asset in the battle against relegation.

"We have still got a chance and if anyone had said, two or three months ago, that we would have a chance of staying up in the final game, we would have took it.

"But I am surprised we are in this situation because we were doing so well for a two or three month period and thought we were going to be safe."

Newton insists that he wants to stay and play for York next season - regardless of the outcome of tomorrow's 'do-or-die' game.

"The club deserves to be in this league," he said. "Never mind 'Conference North', that should never even be spoken about!

"I never signed here to play in National League North, I signed here to get the club stabilised, to go again next season in this league.

"We have still got a chance to do that but, if not, and the worse did happen, I am more than happy to come and fight to get this club back where it belongs."

Although Newton has played in defence over recent weeks, the return to fitness of Yan Klukowski may yet prompt his switch into midfield for tomorrow's game.

"If I am honest, I would like to play in midfield," he admitted. "I thought I was in-form there and I was becoming a goal threat but, through injuries, you sometimes have to sacrifice yourself for the team and I am also more than happy to do that. It's a team game."

The Minstermen are due to play Macclesfield Town at Wembley on May 21 in the final of the FA Trophy.

Newton has never played at the national stadium but reiterated his view that the final will mean nothing if the club loses its National League status.

"On the day I signed, the gaffer said 'I want us to stay up and get to Wembley in the FA Trophy'. Well, we have done one of the two but the other won't matter if we go down. It's all about staying up. If we do that, we will have achieved what the gaffer told me he wanted to achieve when I signed."