YORK City assistant-manager Micky Cummins has insisted nobody at the club should be thinking about their beach holidays yet.

The 14th-placed Minstermen currently lie 16 points above the National League North relegation zone, but eight adrift of the play-off positions, meaning sixth-tier football looks all but guaranteed regardless of the outcomes of the club’s final seven fixtures.

But, with only four players - Jordan Burrow, David Ferguson, Kallum Griffiths and Sean Newton - from Saturday’s first XI for the 2-2 home draw with Boston United contracted to the Minstermen beyond the end of this season, Cummins has argued that many players’ full-time livelihoods are now at stake.

Along with the afore-mentioned quartet, Wes York and Nathan Dyer also have City deals beyond this summer, along with loaned-out duo Tom Allan and Jake Wright, but the rest of the senior squad’s plans for 2019/20 remain unclear.

While stressing individual incentives for players to prove their worth during the final five weeks of the campaign, Cummins also emphasised his and manager Steve Watson’s wish to end the season on a high, with a top-seven finish still not mathematically beyond the club.

“There are teams in this league that are probably already on the beach, but there is still a lot to play for here,” Cummins asserted. “We only have seven senior players contracted for next season, so lads are playing for their futures here or elsewhere.

“They have points to prove to themselves, us or other clubs and we will push them all the way to the last game. We also want to finish with some momentum that we can take into next season and create and score as many goals as possible.”

First-year professionals Ryan Whitley and Josh Rogerson’s current terms will also expire this summer, while fellow teenagers Dyer and Reiss Harrison are understood to be in possession of deals that will keep them on the club’s books until the summer of 2020.

Only right-back Dyer, however, has featured for the first team this term, bar a North Riding Senior Cup outing for Whitley at Scarborough, with Cummins confessing that opportunities for the youngsters - and others from their age group during the run-in to the end of the campaign - will be considered whilst avoiding throwing them in at the deep end.

“We’ve had three under-18 players training with us this week and Ryan (Whitley) is doing really well in goal, but it’s difficult to give him game time with us not having a first team,” the City coach explained.

“We’re very conscious of giving young players a chance at the right times and the manager watched the under-16s on Saturday and I will watch the under-18s on Wednesday to check on their progress, but we don’t want to just chuck them in so they sink or swim – you’ve got to look to blood them in.”

Cummins went on to add that he is pleased there is no forecast for rain ahead of tomorrow night’s re-arranged match at FC United of Manchester after the original fixture was postponed an hour before the scheduled kick-off earlier this month.

“The sun is shining and has been for the last couple of days, so we’re anticipating that the pitch will be in good nick,” the ex-Port Vale midfielder said.