ON-LOAN defender Aarran Racine has admitted he is not looking beyond his initial one-month stay at York City.

Racine, 25, has agreed temporary terms from Forest Green to play for the Minstermen up to and including the January 7 trip to Dover.

But the former Southampton reserve, who has been on the National League title contenders’ books for four-and-a-half years, confessed he does not know what will happen beyond that date.

Having only featured four times for Forest Green since the end of September, Racine was given his City debut during last weekend’s 3-1 FA Trophy home victory over Worcester and he pointed out: “I wasn’t getting a lot of game time out of Forest Green, so I felt it was the right time to accept that and move on for the time being and I’m thankful to the gaffer for giving me the opportunity to play some games. I don’t really know what will happen beyond January and I’m just taking this move as a step at the moment and, then, it will be a case of seeing what happens and going from there.

“I don’t want to plan too far ahead, because you never know what’s around the corner in football. This move happened very quickly and I’m just focussing on this month.”

The twin arrivals of Racine and fellow Forest Green reserve Rhys Murphy raised a few eyebrows following a struggle to recruit experienced signings for a relegation dogfight.

But the former is not put off by the Minstermen’s position at the foot of the table and is certain the right players and manager are in place to pull clear of trouble.

“I’m a bit surprised the club are in this position and it’s not an issue to me because, even in training, you can see the quality and depth in the squad and I think, given the strength here, they will get out of it easily,” Racine reasoned. “I know it’s a big club that has come down from League Two and I also know all about Gary Mills’ record at this level, which was a big factor for me coming here, as I’m confident he will turn it around.”

Racine also reckons the Worcester victory – City’s first in 19 – can provide the springboard for better fortunes ahead of tomorrow’s home clash with Torquay and a double-header against fellow strugglers North Ferriby over the festive period.

“It was nice to be getting game time again and I know, for the club, the victory was a long time coming,” Racine reflected on the Worcester triumph. “There was a sense of relief more than anything afterwards because the team hadn’t got what they deserved at Tranmere the game before, but I think it will give us the momentum to get some points over the next three or four games, because we feel confident enough to believe we can do that now.”

Racine missed out on the Tranmere trip as he contracted the Norovirus on the same day as his move to North Yorkshire was finalised, but he has made a full recovery from the winter vomiting bug.

“I was in bed for a couple of days, but it was only a 48-hour bug really and I was back for training by the Tuesday,” he explained. “It was frustrating to miss the match, but I’m available now.”

The 6ft 1in sentinel went on to express his surprise at lining up in defence for his debut alongside former Forest Green team-mate Yan Klukowski, who played as an attacking midfielder during their two seasons together with the Gloucestershire outfit.

“I was shocked when the gaffer told me, but he did very well and the gaffer speaks highly of him in that position,” Racine added of Klukowski’s defensive prowess.

Having shared a Forest Green dressing room with City’s new-look strikeforce of Jon Parkin and Murphy at different times, Racine is confident too that the pair will prove a potent partnership.

“They are very different type of players,” he explained. “Jon’s a target man and Rhys can play off him with good movement, which we saw against Worcester. They’re both goalscorers as well so, hopefully, they will get some momentum after getting on the scoresheet last weekend.”

The Chippenham-born defender, meanwhile, has no qualms playing in a three-man backline and believes the 3-5-2 formation could be the best way to counter a Torquay team tomorrow that he has locked horns with in the past.

“At Forest Green, we changed between a back three and four, so I’ve done it before and feel comfortable on the right side,” he said. “They’re quite direct from what I remember, which might suit us as a back three with the personnel we have.”