Bennett: I want to stay at Pompey

The in-form winger is one of 15 players out of contract at the season’s end.

In January, with the Blues’ footballing destiny undecided, chief executive Mark Catlin announced talks on players’ futures had been put on hold.

Along with fellow first-team regulars Enda Stevens, Gareth Evans and Michael Doyle, Bennett’s existing deal expires this summer.

The 26-year-old has settled in Havant and five weeks ago his wife gave birth to their second child, Knixon-Rose.

And the former Doncaster Rovers player is desperate to remain at Fratton Park.

Bennett said: ‘I feel in a good place and we want to stay at this club.

‘We love living in the area, promotion brings rewards and hopefully a new contract for myself.

‘We are settled and the plan is to buy a house down here and remain for a long time.

‘We are renting at the moment because when you first join a club you never know whether it is going to work out.

‘Obviously, I’ve now been here approaching two seasons and everything’s going great for me and the family.

‘No contract has been talked about as yet, but I am not really worried, my main focus is to get promoted.

‘I’ll have to wait until the end of the season and see what happens.

‘If we fulfil our potential and get promoted there is no pressure on myself to even think about it – hopefully you will be rewarded.’

Bennett has made 88 appearances and scored 12 times since joining on a free transfer from Doncaster in May 2015.

During that time he has been an automatic choice in Paul Cook’s starting XI – despite, on occasions, struggling to win over a section of the Fratton faithful.

The winger is now in the best goalscoring form of his football career, having netted in each of his past four outings to fire Pompey’s promotion push.

Bennett turned down a new Keepmoat Stadium contract to drop down into League Two with the Blues.

And he believes he has matured since the switch – to the benefit of his game.

He added: ‘I’m still a bubbly character and will never change that!

‘I don’t get many nights out any more, even though I am still a young lad, so it is literally football and family.

‘I would say that approach has improved my game. I now have a little bit of maturity and responsibility.

‘Previously, I never had a level path or clear road, but now I have a goal to keep my family happy.

‘I have a house back up north and, in the summer of 2015, we made the decision for my wife to move with me down to this area.

‘Sometimes people don’t do that, but it’s paying off and we’d like to settle down for even longer.’