SCOT Bennett has revealed that he would consider playing for York City next season - even if the club are relegated.

The on-loan utility man has another 12 months of his contract left to run at parent club Notts County but admits that his days at Meadow Lane could be numbered.

Bennett, 25, has only started six games for the Magpies following his summer switch from Exeter and was also farmed out to Newport earlier this term.

He has made regular first-team football his biggest priority as he ponders his plans for next season and said: “This season has not worked out the way I wanted it to and, maybe, I’ll have to look at something else.

“I’ve not really thought about it too much yet, but staying at York would be an option for me if I was getting regular football and playing. That’s what I want to be doing and, if it was on the table, I would definitely think about it and still consider it if the club are relegated because I want to be playing football in a settled side at my age so I can show people what I can do.

“No discussions have taken place at the minute and I’m just concentrating on what I’m doing for York, but I will sit down with my agent and Notts in the summer and see what plans are there for the future.”

Bennett lined up in his preferred role of centre back alongside Dave Winfield during Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Wycombe and he feels it is a partnership that can flourish, adding: “I enjoyed being back there in my natural position.

“It was nothing out of the ordinary for me and I thought me and Dave complemented each other quite well. We’re both similar players and quite good in the air, but he’s big and strong and I can sweep around the back of him.

“I like to read the game and Dave does that well too. He throws his body on the line and you want that from a partner, because that’s the same thing I try to do.”

The Newquay-born defender had played in midfield prior to switching to left back during the Minstermen’s previous game against Leyton Orient.

Youngsters Matty Dixon and Kyle Cameron deputised in those positions at the weekend with Bennett impressed by their performances.

“I thought Kyle did very well at left back,” he declared. “He slotted in there and did well getting forward when he could, as well as defending strongly, before unfortunately going down with cramp.

“Matty was also very good in midfield. He did the job the gaffer asked him to do.

“He sat in there and gave Bezzer (James Berrett) and Summers (Luke Summerfield) the opportunity to get forward. He mopped up the second balls very well.”

Of the half-dozen games Bennett has featured in for City, four have been drawn and two lost by the odd goal.

The team have led in four of those fixtures and the former Exeter captain feels the side’s struggles can be explained by losses in focus.

“Since I’ve been here, the performances have been very good and it’s hard to see why we are down where we are,” he reasoned. “All I can put it down to is concentration because we have conceded some very sloppy goals that you shouldn’t at this level.

“We put in a really good performance again (on Saturday) and deserved three points, so it was another disappointing result. They didn’t create too many chances, aside from one or two in the second half, which is always going to be the case when you’re chasing a match at 1-0, but I thought we defended very well until we made another silly error.

“We dealt with the first ball, but not the second one when it came into our box and, if we had, they would have never got the first shot away. That just showed you can’t switch off for a minute and you have to learn from your mistakes quickly.”

City now lie nine points adrift of safety with five games left to play but Bennett insisted that the team must continue to believe they can close the gap to third-placed Stevenage.

“We’ve got to keep fighting because there’s still a chance,” he argued. “We have to try and win all our games and hope Stevenage keep dropping points, but we can only concentrate on ourselves and cut out those silly lapses in concentration because the performances have been there.

“We’ve just got to make sure we lock up at the back and don’t switch off.”