IF he is given a game tomorrow, York City captain Sean Newton is prepared to give it his best wherever he plays.

The centre-back has been absent from City sides for most of the past 11 weeks since he suffered a freak jarred knee against Gloucester City in August.

He has had around 10 minutes of game time across York's last three matches as he recovers from the injury, coming on as a substitute against Chester and Boston United.

Newton's reinsertion into training seems to have gone smoothly and he is in a position to be thinking about facing Buxton tomorrow in the FA Cup first round proper.

In the absence of Scott Barrow and ineligible loanee Mitch Hancox, Newton might, however, be playing at left-back rather than at the heart of defence.

“You’d prefer to play in the position you’re most comfortable in but that’s why you’ve got a squad," he said.

“We got Mitch in but he can’t play on Saturday, and we’ve got Scotty coming back.

“If I have to fill in there for one or two games, I’m more than happy to.

“Obviously, you’ve got young Jonny Haase and he might be close to starting.

“I don’t know - it’s up to the gaffer what he picks. If I’m on the bench, I’m on the bench and I’ll bide my time.

“If he wants me to play, I’ll roll my sleeves up and have a good go at it."

Against Boston, City were chasing the game and Newton was thrown on up front as a 88th-minute substitute. On Saturday, there was no need for any drastic actions as a dominant York crushed Blyth Spartans 4-0.

“It was a great performance," Newton said after watching from the sidelines. "I don’t think we gave Blyth a minute on the ball. We were ruthless on it - we possibly could have scored more, if I’m being picky.

“I thought we were brilliant all over. Probably our best display for 90 minutes all season.

“It can only give us confidence going in to this game on Saturday."

And just as they have done for the last three FA Cup games, York go in to tomorrow (3pm) as favourites, at the LNER Community Stadium and against lower-league opposition.

In other words, it is another potential banana skin for the Minstermen to navigate.

But the favourites tag is not an unfamiliar one, Newton believes.

“You can take that into the league as well," he said. "Every home game, regardless of who we’re playing, we’ll be favourites. I think when we play Fylde, we’ll be favourites because of the squad we’ve got and the team we are.

“It’s just mentally being right. That’s the problem sometimes - unknowingly, you get in a comfort zone as a squad and think you’ve got enough to turn up and win.

“We don’t mean to, and I think that’s affected us over the years.

“This year, we’ve had terrible injuries, and for me, we’ve managed it as well as we can. There are some games we could have done better - Hereford, Brackley - we weren’t great second half but we conceded two goals in five minutes out of nothing.

“We’re not in a bad position. We could be better. The injuries we’ve had have been a nightmare.

“But as a squad, it’s made us stronger. The dressing room’s brilliant.

“Now that everyone’s coming back - Scotty’s not far away - it’s only going to make us stronger going in to a busy Christmas period."