JOHN McCOMBE would be happy for York City to carry on playing 3-5-2 next season.

The switch to a three centre-back system coincided with the six-game unbeaten run that saw City secure Football League survival after taking 14 points from a possible 18.

Since then, the Minstermen have suffered back-to-back defeats against Shrewsbury and Newport but McCombe, who has started every one of the last eight matches, believes the formation could be worth persevering with in 2015/16.

The centre-back said: “It’s quite a good formation and has worked for us over the last few games. I don’t know how we will want to approach things next season and it might depend on what players are available, but it’s a good option.”

Having been dropped from City’s first XI four times this season, McCombe is currently enjoying his longest run of successive starts this campaign and is hoping to retain his place despite fellow defender Dave Winfield’s return from a three-match suspension ahead of Saturday’s final Sky Bet League Two fixture at Portsmouth.

“I feel like I’ve been doing all right,” McCombe said. “I’ve been glad to be involved at a time when results have picked up in terms of getting some wins to get us over the line and stave off the threat of relegation.”

The 29-year-old also wants the team to fire out a message at Fratton Park that the club can be a force next term, adding: “We’ve got to try to finish on a high.

“We need to show we have picked up in recent weeks and that we are a team who are hopefully going to do better next season.

“Portsmouth aren’t a bad team. They have underachieved this season but I think they will be really good next season. If you look at the players we’ve got, we also know we should be higher in the league and are capable of being in the top half rather than the bottom half.

“Hopefully we can put a marker down before the summer break and it’s a game to look forward to.

Somebody spoke to me the other day and said it must be hard going there with nothing to play for, but I think it would have been a very tough game if both teams had needed points.”

With 19 of City’s 49 league and cup contests this season having ended in draws and a further 16 decided by the odd goal, McCombe has stressed the need for the team to start winning more of those close encounters.

“We have improved quite a lot towards the end of the season but most of the matches have been close throughout the campaign,” he said. “Saturday’s game was the same and, next season, we have got to beat the likes of Newport 2-0 instead of losing 2-0 to them.”

Having set an unwanted club record by only scoring 16 league goals at home - while bettering the worst-ever tally of four wins on their own soil by just one victory - McCombe admitted performances must improve at Bootham Crescent.

“The lack of goals is not just down to the front men,” he declared. “We need to be putting better balls in the box and, hopefully, that will be the case next season.

“Our home record has picked up in recent weeks but, if we want to be nearer the top of the table, we need to win our home games because our away form has been good since I’ve been here.”

The ex-Port Vale and Hereford sentinel was particularly frustrated the team signed off for the season at Bootham Crescent with a poor display at both ends of the pitch against Newport.

He said: “The result wasn’t what we wanted in our last home game. We’d won three on the bounce at home and wanted to make that four but, while we played well in patches, we didn’t keep our foot on the gas for 90 minutes and let ourselves down.

“They took their chances but they were pretty poor goals to concede, especially the second one which was a ball into the middle of the box which their lad headed in from six yards out, so we weren’t happy about that. Our penalty would have have made it 1-1 and it was disappointing we didn’t score that, along with a few more opportunities.”