LEE Bullock might make a rare appearance for Whitby against former club York City tonight and he will also be treating the North Riding Cup quarter-final as a scouting exercise.

Whitby entertain City in a 7.45pm kick off and assistant-manager Bullock, now 35, could feature with sustaining their promotion challenge for a place in National League North next term the Seasiders’ main priority.

But the hosts will be casting a keen eye on their opponents too for potential recruits should any of the visitors’ second-string side become available in the summer.

“We’ll be looking at some of the York players with next season in mind, as most of those that get released will be looking at National League North or our level,” Bullock pointed out.

On the possibility of his participation in the tie, the ex-Cardiff and Bradford midfielder added: “I’ve only played in two cup games this season, because I’ve got a bad knee and I can’t risk damaging it for work.

“But there’s a chance I might play because, as much as we want to beat York and, in an ideal world, play Middlesbrough in the final at the Riverside, we are up there in the league and we’ve only got a squad of 16 lads and that’s it.”

One ex-MInsterman almost certain to feature for Whitby is Mark Robinson, who plied his trade at Bootham Crescent from 2007 to 2009.

“He’s 35 as well, but a bit different to me – his legs seem to still work,” Bullock smiled. “He dropped out of the professional game, but is a bit of a Whitby stalwart now.

“He’s the club captain and helps out with coaching and also does a bit for Middlesbrough’s academy. I’m not looking forward to the day myself and the manager have to say he’s no longer in the starting XI, but he’s doing well and looks like he can play for another couple of years.

“Knowing him, he’ll believe he can play until he’s 40 as well.”

Bullock’s current position represents his first taste of coaching in senior football and he is not ruling out a step up to management in the future, saying: “Being a coach at this level is quite a nice place to learn.

“It’s still tier seven, so it’s a half-decent standard and I was offered the manager’s job but I felt at that time I didn’t have the experience or contacts to take it on. I’ve also known the manager (Chris Hardy) from the age of 15 and, when he came in, we worked well together straight away.

“He’s managed in the Northern League before and I’m picking up a lot from him. I’m also getting a lot of coaching time, while he deals with all the things managers have to do, even at this level, so I can only imagine what Gary Mills’ job is like at York.

“Being assistant manager is probably the cushy job and being manager is where the pressure is, but people crave that and it’s something I’d like to do. There’s a lot of good people, though, who are highly qualified and unable to get jobs in the game, so I just feel fortunate to be doing what I am at Whitby.

“I’m also coaching at Hartlepool sixth-form college, which is the next best thing to a professional club’s youth team and doing bits and bobs football coaching.”

Having now experienced life in the dugout, Bullock also admitted, without elaborating on the circumstances, that he now appreciates why Mills cut short his second spell at City in the 2012/13 season following just one league start.

“I’m an assistant manager now and big into coaching, so I realise that the way I went about things then was not right and I would have done what Gary Mills did and got me out of the club,” he confessed. “I was oblivious to that at the time, but realise now I should have acted differently.

“Gary Mills is a decent fella who I would go for a few pints with but, if I had the chance to sign for him again, I probably wouldn’t.”