MARVIN McCoy is back on the transfer list at York City and will not travel to Portsmouth for tomorrow night's Sky Bet League Two clash at Fratton Park.

The Antigua & Barbuda international was originally told he was surplus to requirements by former City boss Russ Wilcox at the end of last season.

But, following a pre-season programme in which he was the club's surprise top scorer, McCoy went on to start 16 of the 18 games overseen by Wilcox this term prior to his dismissal.

The ex-Wycombe right back went on to kick off new manager Jackie McNamara's first two games in charge but, after serving a one-match ban, he was left out of the squad completely for Saturday's trip to Leyton Orient and is now free to seek a loan move before the transfer window closes on Wednesday with McNamara explaining: "Hopefully, with the help of his agent, he can get fixed up with a club where he's going to play every week because it's important for him to be doing that at 27.

"He's been on the transfer list before and there's no point in him being here and not playing. At his age, he should be in the prime of his career and wanting to play football."

The City chief - a former right back himself - has identified the position as a problem area, having also been displeased with the standard of some of Eddie Nolan's defending at the weekend. "I've been here two weeks and feel I've given people enough chance to show me what they can do," McNamara reasoned. "We've conceded ten goals in four games and most have come from a certain area that I need to fix.

"There's been a lot of chopping and changing this season, but it hasn't seemed to make much of a difference, so we need to freshen things up and bring some energy and enthusiasm into the place."

McNamara had hoped to bring in a fresh face for the Pompey game but that is now unlikely to be the case and, if he is to recruit anybody before Wednesday's deadline, it is expected to be another young reserve from a higher-division club in a similar vein to William Boyle, who made his full Football League debut during the 3-2 defeat at Orient having arrived from Huddersfield.

"I've been to a lot of under-21 games since coming here and I think, realistically, it's best to focus on those players before the window opens in January," McNamara pointed out. The City chief also suggested that he will persist with rookie central-defensive partners George Swan and Boyle on the south coast, saying: "I thought they handled Saturday fine and I wouldn't blame them for the goals.

"George got held off a little bit for the first one although I still think it shouldn't have been a goal because Scott (Flinders) was off his line a bit and it dropped in. You also accept that youngsters will make mistakes because they're still learning.

"When it's experienced players letting people run into your box without doing anything about it, then that's more disappointing."

Michael Coulson will not feature tomorrow due to the hip problem that caused him to be substituted in East London, while Russell Penn, Luke Summerfield, Dave Winfield and Reece Thompson also remain sidelined With a crowd in excess of 15,000 expected to turn up at the home of the 2008 FA Cup final winners, McNamara is challenging his team to rise to the occasion despite the current run of six successive defeats.

He said: "If I were them, I'd want to play in front of the biggest crowds and the best atmosphere to show my skills and ability, so it should inspire them.

"They shouldn't be worried and I will learn more about them. Portsmouth try to play football and have a good 4-2-3-1 system - similar to the one I played at Scotland - where you get your width from the full backs, but they've been conceding goals and we're capable of scoring, so we can cause them problems if we make sure we don't give anything away.

"We have to start on the front foot and that means not retreating towards our goal."