YORK City boss Jackie McNamara intends to trim his squad prior to next Thursday's loan deadline - with defenders the most likely candidates for the Bootham Crescent exit door.

Despite being without the likes of Russell Penn, Luke Summerfield, Reece Thompson, Bryn Morris and Marvin McCoy for last Saturday's 2-1 home defeat to Plymouth, pros John McCombe, Josh Carson, Tom Platt, Taron Hare, Callum Rzonca and Ben Hirst still failed to make the bench.

McNamara reckons the Minstermen are carrying too many players at the club and 30-year-old McCombe is still to feature in a first-team squad under the former Scotland captain.

Former Scunthorpe reserve Hare, meanwhile, is yet to make his senior debut following his summer arrival in North Yorkshire and McNamara feels there is a surplus of centre backs at the club.

The two-time Press Player of the Year Keith Lowe has also fallen out of favour under ex-Wolves team-mate McNamara, who said: "We've got too many players at the club and I'd like to move some on to freshen things up. I think that will happen soon and I'd like to see if I can get them somewhere else to play football.

"Players are unhappy when they're not playing and we've got a lot of right-sided centre halves at the club, who are of a similar ilk and age. A few of them are waiting around for somebody to make a mistake for a chance to play and that's unhealthy competition."

New loan signing William Boyle - a 20-year-old, left-sided centre back - is expected to slot in alongside George Swan for Saturday's Sky Bet League Two clash at Leyton Orient with Dave Winfield ruled out due to concussion.

Huddersfield under-21s' captain Boyle would be making his first start at Football League level if selected but McNamara declared: "He's in contention to start because I wouldn't bring people in for the sake of it.

"I want to improve the squad and get back to winning games of football. I was very impressed with Huddersfield's under-21s' organisation and the way they played football.

"They have some good young players and, as captain, Will led by example. He was talking and organising at the back and that's very important.

"George Swan has proven that you can still be young and do that."

The City chief has recruited Boyle in an area where he believes his over-sized squad remains short of options and could be bolstered further before the loan window closes He added: "There's a lack of balance in the squad because we've only got one left-sided defender in Femi (Ilesanmi) and we've been having to play people out of position or somebody who is better further forward in those areas. Will's arrival addresses that a little and it's possible we might look to bring in a left back as well in time for the Portsmouth game.

"I'm looking at a few options and somebody might come in, probably not before this weekend but, maybe, in time for Tuesday because, anybody I do bring in, I like to meet them one-to-one and make decisions on their hunger, leadership qualities and character."

Boyle's signing means City now have five loan players among their ranks - the maximum number that is permitted in any matchday squad.

The deals of midfield pair Michael Collins and Bryn Morris will expire before the end of the month and McNamara admitted he will be scrutinising his squad's strengths and weaknesses prior to making decisions on their futures.

"We were short of midfielders but Russell Penn and Luke Summerfield are coming back and we've got Jonathan Greening involved now too, so we'll look at our options and make sure the squad is balanced in terms of what we need," the ex-Dundee United manager explained.

Morris will be back at Orient after missing the last two matches due to international commitments with England under-20s.

He only played nine minutes of a planned double header against France with the second match, which was planned to take place in Brittany on Saturday, postponed due to the terrorist attack on Paris the night before.

McNamara has also warned his team, who have gone 11 league games without a clean sheet, to be aware of the direct threat posed by Saturday's hosts, saying: "They're quite narrow in terms of the way they play and we will need to be careful because they go from back to front very quickly and look for flick-ons off the big lad (Ollie) Palmer up front for (Jay) Simpson around him. We will need to switch on and not lie too deep on top of our keeper."