CHRIS Smith is still York City’s club captain despite not being handed the armband on his recall to the team.

The 32-year-old defender enjoyed his first taste of senior football for five matches during City’s last outing – the 3-0 Johnstone’s Paint Trophy home defeat to Rotherham.

But his centre-back partner Dan Parslow continued as skipper against the Millers – a role the former Wales under-21 international has carried out since Smith was dropped from the starting line-up following last month’s 2-0 reverse against AFC Wimbledon at Bootham Crescent.

Smith got his chance with City chief Nigel Worthington keen to rest David McGurk due to his chequered injury record during the last two years.

The latter is likely to step back in during this weekend’s League Two trip to Newport but Worthington insisted that Smith’s recent demotion to the bench does not mean he has been stripped of his captaincy or that he cannot still be an influential skipper off the field.

“Chris is still the club captain,” Worthington confirmed. “Dan Parslow had worn the armband for the previous four games though and we decided to keep it that way against Rotherham.

“I always say you don’t need an armband to be captain and Chris is tapping into that now.

“It’s about having the right qualities and he has got to stay strong and focused on pulling everybody together as well as working hard to get himself back in the team.

“I thought he did well against Rotherham. The own goal was unfortunate but that can happen to anybody and, apart from that, he did what we asked of him.”

On the decision to hold back McGurk for Saturday’s South Wales clash, the Minstermen chief added: “We gave David a little rest because two games in four days could be stretching it with him a little bit.”

With City without a game due to the international call-ups for Sander Puri, Josh Carson, Ryan Brobbel and Chris Kettings, Worthington chose to take in the Dagenham v Cheltenham match on Saturday.

The Minstermen travel to Cheltenham on November 2, while this weekend’s hosts Newport were also watched by Worthington’s assistant, Steve Torpey, at Rochdale.

On the pair’s scouting missions, Worthington said: “The opportunities you get to watch your future opponents at the level we play are few and far between, so it was good to get that chance.

“Normally, we have a couple of scouts in the north and south and, while we are busy, they compile match reports for us on the different teams. Sometimes, I try to watch match dvds but the reports are done by people who I have a tried and tested relationship with.

“They know what I want and I know how good they are at delivering that.”