YORK City centre-back John McCombe is determined to avoid his first-ever relegation as a professional.

The experienced defender made his Football League debut at the age of 17 back in 2003, having been called up from the youth team at first club Huddersfield after the West Yorkshire outfit had already gone down from League One.

McCombe has never been in that situation since and has no intention of being consigned to the Conference at the age of 29 with the Minstermen hovering only one point above the Sky Bet League Two drop zone with five weeks left to play.

The ex-Hereford promotion winner said: “The only time I’ve experienced relegation was when I was the 19th man for an away game with Huddersfield and the team went down that day. I made my debut in the next game but, since then, the nearest I’ve been to going down was when we came 18th at Port Vale, so the current situation is new to me really, as it is for quite a few of the lads.

“We’ve still got eight games left. That’s not a lot but, for me, the nerves haven’t kicked in yet.

“I would imagine that might happen during the last few games if we are still down there but, if we keep playing like we did at Accrington where we deserved to win instead of drawing, we can pick up the wins to stay up before then because nobody wants to be relegated. It’s a big thing.

“I’ve been in the Football League all my career and to go down to the Conference would be massively disappointing. I’m not getting any younger and I know, from the experiences of a lot of players, how hard it is to get yourself back in the League once you’ve dropped out, so we’re doing all we can to stay up.”

McCombe also has another ambition before the end of the campaign. It is eight years since he last ended a season without any goals to his name.

He has not netted this term but teed up Jake Hyde’s second goal during the 2-2 draw at Accrington and reasoned that City can be a threat in dead-ball situations should manager Russ Wilcox continue to select three centre-backs, as he did last weekend.

"I actually thought about shooting," McCombe admitted of his Accrington assist. "But I saw Hydey and thought I better pass it to him or he would have been crying for the rest of the game otherwise.

"I like to get up there and get goals or create them and I've not done it enough this season.

"I never set myself goal targets but I've got as many as five in previous seasons and, even then, I've felt I should have scored more. Not to get any this season has been disappointing but, if I get any from now on, they could be vital. Over the season, we've scored quite a few goals from set-pieces.

"We've not got as many recently but, if myself, Keith and Dave are going forward, that should be a big plus for us. Hopefully, we can get on the end of a few balls and that might might mean the difference between getting three points, one or none."

McCombe, meanwhile, is hoping that City will persevere with the 3-4-1-2 formation that Wilcox employed for the first time in Lancashire.

The Pontefract-born centre back said: "I've played three at the back quite a few times at previous clubs. The last time was at Mansfield and we also had a full season playing it at Port Vale, so I know it quite well.

"I thought it worked quite well at Accrington. We were disappointed to concede two poor goals because, throughout the game, we were solid, but the goals did not reflect how we played defensively and I thought we deserved a clean sheet."

McCombe is less familiar with a left-sided role in the system but has no complaints about operating there.

He added: "I've probably played more on the right side of a three, then quite a bit in the middle and less on the left, but we've all played lots of games and, wherever they put each of us, we will be more than capable of carrying out our duties."

McCombe joined City in January 2014 from this afternoon's hosts Mansfield and, with the Minstermen having won 1-0 on their last two trips to Field Mill, the 6ft 2in sentinel believes the key to defeating his old team is upsetting their fans by forging in front.

Mansfield have only lost one of their last seven home games under McCombe's ex-team-mate Adam Murray but the former pointed out: "The crowd got pretty restless when I was there if the team were losing a game, even if they were on a good run, so going ahead would definitely be a big boost."