HE might be in the minority at Wanderers – but Barry Bannan is one of the few who doesn’t want this season to end!

The Scottish dynamo is finishing the campaign strongly and hopes his form over the last few months could earn him a summer move from Crystal Palace.

Bannan didn’t want to be a squad player at Selhurst Park, dropping down a division to become an important cog in Neil Lennon’s midfield since January.

But while the Whites boss insists there has been no discussions with the Premier League club about a deal, the player himself has his fingers crossed.

“I’ve got three games left and I have really enjoyed my time here,” he told The Bolton News. “The end of the season is coming at a bad time. I’m really enjoying my football and I’d like to play another 20 or 30 games if I could do.

“I’ll make the best of the three we’ve got left and hopefully the gaffer will come calling but you never know.

“I’m looking at the games first before my own future.”

Bannan still has a year to run on his contract at Palace but is unsure how his future will pan out under Alan Pardew with the club securing their top-flight future once again.

“They are flying at the moment so obviously I keep a close eye on what is going on,” he said. “I’ve got good mates there and first and foremost I’m still a Palace player at this minute in time.

“It’s hard for me to say what’s going to happen. When the manager (Pardew) came in I played two out of the first four games but I decided I needed to play week-in, week-out. I didn’t think I was going to get it there, so I came here.

“But football is strange, it can change at any time so there’s no use making predictions.”

While the midweek draw against Charlton had more of an end-of-season dead-rubber feel about it, there is plenty hanging on tomorrow’s game at Griffin Park.

Brentford have dropped just below the play-offs and need victory to try and claw back some ground on Ipswich Town.

Bannan described the Charlton game as a frustrating exercise but is looking forward to a much higher-tempo affair in West London.

“Charlton was a strange game because they were happy to sit and try to hit us on the counter so we had most of the ball,” he said.

“It’s hard to break teams like that down but the patience was the main thing, we got the equalising goal in the end.

“So this weekend it’s good to be playing against a side with something to play for.

“I think we showed we’re more than capable of competing against the teams at the top of the league against Norwich.

“We’ve got some great games coming up against Brentford and Bournemouth and I think we need to show them that next season we’ll be coming on strong.

“If you’re playing against someone whose season is over they can sometimes drag you down to their level. It can be a flat game and kind of boring.

“We know in the next two games the team we’re playing against will be really going for it.

“I think we can win all three – we know in that changing room we’ve got enough to go and win the nine points that the gaffer wants.”

Bannan also admits he prefers Lennon’s recent move to a 3-5-2 formation, which allows him to see more of the ball.

“It’s probably better for me than 4-4-2 because there are more options and more people alongside you that can do the stuff I’m not great at, like tackling,” said the Scotland international.

“It does help if you’ve got someone like Josh Vela or Neil Danns in there putting their foot in.

“I’m in the middle of the park so when you’re in there you’ve got to try and drive the team forward. You should be the main man because everything you do goes through the middle.

“I’m really enjoying it and hopefully I’m showing I’m a good player.”

Lennon would like to see Bannan return next season in some capacity but concedes there are a lot of factors which could yet come into play.

“We haven’t had that discussion,” he said. “I’d definitely be interested in bringing him back but whether we are able to match what he would want in wages, what Palace might want for him, or whether Barry might go back and find he’s part of their plans, we just don’t know yet.

“I’ve been very pleased with him since he came in and he’s made us better – but that’s probably a conversation for the summer.”