Alan Bennett hopes his club Reading will allow him to extend his loan at Brentford until the end of the season.

The central defender - who has been the cornerstone of Brentford's impressive campaign so far - has been granted an extension to his stay at Griffin Park until January 29.But Bennett had been hoping to tie up a deal until the end of the season and is keen for the Championship club to agree a further extension until May before the current transfer window expires.

"It's kind of bit by bit but that's the way Reading wanted to do it," Bennett told the Gazette.

"A deal to stay on until the end of the season was what I was hoping for, but I think it will still be done that way with a further extension.

"I presume Reading have done it just in case some other club shows an interest. I think they're still hoping to get a fee for me.

"But like any player, I'd like a bit of stability and I think that leads to be doing a better job.

"It's good to be able to think and plan ahead and there's definitely an element of wanting to finish what I started here this season.

"It's been going quite well here. We've been keeping clean sheets and only Wycombe have conceded fewer. If we can keep another 10 clean sheets in the second half of the season, that would be excellent."

Andy Scott said: "We didn't have the option of extending his loan for the minute. We had discussions with Reading and that was the best all-round option for all the parties.

"If we want to keep him for the rest of the season, we have to extend the loan before the end of the transfer window.

"It's an option we'll discuss with Reading but for the moment they are happy with just a month and we'll look at it further down the line. We are happy with the agreement at the moment.

"We believe we've got a good enough relationship with Reading that we can speak to them again if and when we need to extend it."

Reading's reluctance to free Bennett up without recouping some cash before his contract with the Berkshire club expires in the summer could be because the 27-year-old defender is costing them more than £3,000 per week while on loan at Griffin Park - the result of a pay increase awarded for gaining two Republic of Ireland caps in a tour of USA in 2007.

But with any luck, the Bees will hang onto their man - and that will be key to making the most of starting the year in second place in League Two.

Bennett has been the glue binding a solid defence and has managed to work well, first with loan signing James Wilson, then with Mark Phillips.

"They are different players and I suppose it shows a certain amount of flexibility that I have been able to adapt to the game of others around me," Bennett said.

"That said, Mark has been with us in training all season, so it wasn't that much of a transition when he came in."

The Bees will be eager to get going after being without a fixture on FA Cup weekend. But they may need the weather to relent if their game at Lincoln is not another victim of the current freeze.

"We much prefer to be playing because when we aren't we're worked harder in training to compensate for not playing," Bennett said.

"It's like we've had a mini pre-season. We've had longer training sessions and more endurance stuff.

"But it will hopefully put us in the right condition for the rest of the season, when it will be a question of keeping more clean sheets and recovering quickly after setbacks to stay up with the leaders."

Next Up

LINCOLN CITY

Sincil Bank Saturday 3pm League Two

Manager: Peter Jackson Position last season: 15th Form Guide: Only Dagenham (1-3) and Port Vale (0-1) have been winners at Lincoln in the league this season and the mid-table Imps have won four of their other nine home fixtures. They came against Barnet (2-0),Chesterfield (3-1), Gillingham (2-0) and Accrington (5-1). There have been draws with Grimsby,Morecambe,Rochdale, Shrewsbury and Bradford. Blue Square side Kettering Town knocked them out of the FA Cup (1-2) at Sincil Bank.

Players to look out for: Former Fulham favourite Geoff Horsfield, 35, has just joined the Imps. He was released by Sheffield United this month after loan spells at Leeds,Leicester and Scunthorpe in the past two seasons.

Most recent meetings: Brentford 1-1 Lincoln (20 Sep 2008); Lincoln 3-1 Brentford (19 Apr 2008); Brentford 1-0 Lincoln (27 Oct 2007) - League Two Head-to-head record: LC Wins: 19 BEES Wins: 18 Draws: 9

Match Facts: The Bees have lost on seven of the last eight visits to Sincil Bank - they last drew there in 1985 - and have failed to win in 16 trips. The last success away to the Imps came 46 years ago when the Bees won 3-1 on their way to becoming Fourth Division champions. There has been only one other triumph - a 2-0 win 75 years ago. The teams drew 1-1 at Griffin Park in September, when Nathan Elder was on target for the Bees in a game famously delayed by City's struggle through London traffic.

Forecast: The Bees should be raring to go after their enforced week off - but given their record at Lincoln, they may have to settle for a point.

Gazette forecast success rate: 17 out of 25 (68 per cent)