YORK City manager Neal Ardley hopes to bolster his squad ahead of their trip to Woking on Saturday lunchtime (12:30pm).

City earned their first win of the season against Southend United last weekend, but were uninspiring as they slumped to a 2-0 defeat at managerless Oldham Athletic on Tuesday evening.

Having welcomed an influx of summer signings under new owners Matt and Julie-Anne Uggla, last week assistant manager Neil Cox admitted that some players would depart the club to manage the size of the squad.

Towering defender Kevin Joshua became the first such departure, joining Pitching In Northern Premier League premier division favourites Macclesfield on a three-month loan on Tuesday.

Whilst midfielder Alex Woodyard could be in contention to return for the Minstermen this weekend after a knee injury suffered in the pre-match warm-up of their clash with Altrincham last month, Callum Harriott is a longer-term doubt, with Ardley keen to add some more depth to his squad amid their congested fixture schedule.

"We're training this afternoon, so we'll be counting the bodies and having a look at where everybody is," he explained.

"Alex Woodyard has trained at the back end of last week, and we've got some good mileage into his legs this week.

"At the back end of this week, I'll have a look at him and see whether I think he's in a place to be back in and around it.

"Callum Harriott, he's probably a little bit further behind.

"He's still on that road, but we're actively looking in the market to see if we can give ourselves one or two options in areas of the pitch that we're a little bit short in."

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As for whether any such deal would be likely to be completed by Saturday, Ardley admitted: "We're working on it.

"Getting deals over the line are difficult, but I've been last night, and this morning, working on one or two things.

"They can happen very quickly when they do, sometimes they take a lot longer, but if there's a chance of getting a player in before Saturday, obviously I will push for that."

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Ardley also provided an update on Callum Howe, who was an unused substitute at Oldham after falling ill over the weekend, explaining that his fitness, combined with Saturday's clean sheet against Southend, were influencing factors of his absence.

"He'd hardly eaten all weekend, so to throw him in on Tuesday, after the team had kept a clean sheet, there was no reason to.

"We gave him a light Monday, and he was obviously on the bench on Tuesday, so we'll monitor him and see where his levels are today in training.

"You have to take all that kind of information before you try and make decisions."