RELEASED York City striker Jamie Reed reckons the club should reintroduce a formal reserve team next season.

Reed, 25, was told he was surplus to requirements at Bootham Crescent this week after two-and-a-half years with the Minstermen.

He departs after making only four senior starts during his last campaign and has admitted that life on the fringes at City is “very frustrating”.

With no official second-string fixtures, those players outside the first XI are often forced to wait for sporadic behind-closed-doors clashes normally against under-18 sides in matches sometimes played on training grounds rather than in stadiums.

Reed believes that situation not only has an impact on out-of-favour players at the club but also on the first team, saying: “It’s definitely tough being on the fringes at York City.

“You train Monday to Friday and that is with the aim of playing on Saturday and it’s disappointing and very frustrating when you’re not playing. The reserve friendlies we had were not as frequent as you would want but there’s not a lot you can do about that.

“Having a reserve team always helps the squad as a whole. It gives you something to express yourself in and, if you are not in the team, there’s that opportunity to show the manager why you should be.”

Reed added that he was not surprised when he failed to make Nigel Worthington’s retained list, having managed just one full half and two brief substitute outings since the former Northern Ireland chief’s appointment in March.

“To be honest, I was expecting it because I thought there would be a bit of an overhaul and I hadn’t played as many games as I would have liked,” the former Wrexham striker admitted on the end of his Minstermen career.

“With the new manager, I also never really got a chance to show what I could do.”

Reed did not object to Worthington delivering the news either, even though the ex-Sheffield Wednesday full-back is yet to commit his own future to the Minstermen.On that situation, Reed said: “It’s slightly unusual but he has been given that job to do and, if that’s what he’s been asked to do, there’s not much the players can do about that.”

Despite the club flirting with relegation and Reed netting only four times in 27 matches for City and Cambridge, where he spent a month on loan, the 5ft 9in forward is not writing 2012/13 off as a “complete disaster”, explaining: “Personally, the season did not go as well as I would have liked but I got a handful of League appearances and managed to get my first League goal, as well as a couple in the FA Cup, so it wasn’t a complete disaster. As a team, everybody knows we had a rough patch but we stayed up at the end of the day, which was the objective.”

Reed’s availability has already alerted several clubs, potentially attracted by his record of 21 goals despite starting just 33 games at Blue Square Bet Premier level with the Minstermen.

On his next move, he revealed: “There are a couple of teams who have expressed an interest in what my situation might be next season but nothing solid and, until there’s an offer on the table, I won’t be getting excited. I want to be playing at the highest level I can so, if a League club came in for me, I would be made up.”