YORK City manager Nigel Worthington is not ruling out a return to Bootham Crescent for Burton midfielder Adam Reed during the January transfer window.

Reed is unlikely to feature in tomorrow’s game between the two teams at Burton’s Pirelli Stadium having fallen out of favour since his summer switch to Staffordshire.

He is currently fifth in the pecking order for a central-midfield berth under Brewers boss Gary Rowett and has failed to make a matchday squad since the end of September.

Speculation is therefore rising that Reed’s days might be numbered at Burton and Worthington could make a move for the 22-year-old midfielder, who played a key role in preserving City’s Football League status last season when he scored two goals in six games during a loan spell from Sunderland.

Lewis Montrose and Elliott Whitehouse are currently Worthington’s first-choice pairing in midfield, but the latter’s loan stay from Sheffield United is due to expire in the New Year.

On the possibility of re-signing Reed, should he become available, the City chief said: “It’s something I would have to look at and we will see what the scenarios are come January when some of the loan situations are up.

“We will assess that and move forward from there in whatever direction we need to go in. We will be looking to add to the group in January to give us a bit more strength and he did very well here.

“We tried to get him in over the summer and I don’t know the background of what’s happened at Burton and why he’s out of favour there, but the manager selects the team and it’s down to Gary to do that. It’s no different here. If you are in the team, you do your most to stay in and, if you’re not, you have to work damned hard to get in.”City are now preparing to face two strong promotion contenders on consecutive weekends with the trip to Burton followed by a home match against table-topping Oxford seven days later.

But the Bootham Crescent boss believes his team have the ability to come out with positive results from both contests, saying: “We will be giving it a good go and looking for three points from both games.

“They are great matches and a challenge but, as a professional, you should love challenges like these. They are both up there in the table but I don’t see a lot of difference between them and us, other than the amount of points they have taken.

“We need to believe in ourselves and deliver the kind of performances we can do. We have got to show the kind of resilience and resolve that we have done to get two clean sheets in the last two games at the other end of the pitch and put our heads where the studs are flying to make sure that ball crosses the line because two good results would give everybody confidence and a lift going into the Christmas games.”

Striker Wes Fletcher is expected to line up for City, having suffered a pre-match hamstring injury during the club’s last match – the goalless home draw with Rochdale – while goalkeeper Michael Ingham faces a late fitness test on his hip flexor problem.

With Whitehouse also back from suspension and Wolves ’keeper Aaron McCarey likely to be needed either in the starting line-up or on the bench as cover, Worthington will again be deciding which of his six loan signings to leave out of tomorrow’s squad.

Left-back Ben Davies has been receiving treatment on an ankle injury this week but, should he be fit, then winger Ryan Brobbel could be the man to miss out with clubs only permitted to include five on-loan players for any match day.

“We will be picking the right combination of players to get us a result from an away game,” Worthington added.