City boss calls for a reserve side to give game time to fringe players

The Minstermen have not had official second-string fixtures since the club were withdrawn from the Pontins League in 2009 when Martin Foyle was boss at Bootham Crescent.

Foyle went on to guide his squad to the Conference play-off final that season but McNamara is the latest City manager to question the lack of official reserve fixtures.

Tuesday night's North Riding Cup quarter-final at Guisborough gave McNamara a first organised opportunity this season to run the rule over his fringe players, although the penalty shoot-out defeat has denied him the chance of two more.

On the value of reserve games, McNamara said: "It would be a good thing moving forward because, as manager, it's beneficial for me to see players in games. We had 26 players when I came in and it would have been really useful then.

"I'm a great believer in reserve football. It was something that helped me when I was growing up playing alongside more experienced players in proper, competitive matches and it quickens up the learning process."

McNamara added, though, that he was impressed by some players more than others against the Northern League part-timers.

"It wasn't a game I'd have been happy about watching and none of the fans there would have been very impressed either but, for me, it was more important to get some fitness and game time into players like Derek Riordan," he reasoned. "Josh Carson also worked very hard and Bradley Fewster looked lively as he tried to make things happen.

"I see the players every day in training and I know what they can do, so I wasn't reading too much into the game in terms of my thoughts about them, but I'd have liked one or two to have done a bit better in terms of their attitude more than anything because I saw things that angered me. The pitch was difficult but you have to deal with that sometimes and the prime example of that was when Notts County got knocked out at Salford in the FA Cup."