JACKIE McNAMARA has instructed York City’s full-backs to rein in their attacking instincts in order to solidify his new team’s leaky defence.

Poor defending in the wide areas contributed to Accrington Stanley’s first two goals in a 3-2 FA Cup reverse in the Scot’s first game as manager on Saturday.

Ahead of tonight’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie against League One outfit Barnsley, McNamara outlined a desire for his new charges to adopt a pragmatic approach to defending.

“It wasn’t like a back four on Saturday” he said. “The full-backs were far too pushed on at times when they should have stayed in position.

“There are little things that can be sorted quickly, like not worrying about helping out the front line, overlapping them and getting taken out of position.

“It’s pure and simple, to do their jobs properly.”

The new boss explained after the game that he introduced Dave Winfield at half-time at the expense of Keith Lowe due to the Minstermen being too open down the right channel.

At Stanley, right-back Marvin McCoy struggled to deal with the movement of Sean McConville, who opened the scoring for the hosts, while Eddie Nolan, deputising again on the left, kept Piero Mingoia quiet for long periods.

McNamara, who operated at full-back for most of his playing career, has given his players the benefit of his own experience to resist the temptation to push forward too often.

“I’ve just been speaking to one or two about that.” he said.

“I was the full-back as well, I liked to get forward. Most importantly, though, I liked to make sure that no one got a shot on goal and nobody got past me.

“The lads up front are creating chances. If we can sort out the defence and the defenders do their jobs properly, we’ll start climbing the table.”

Michael Coulson was being assessed today ahead of the trip to Barnsley, after missing training yesterday. Bryn Morris is away on international duty with England Under-20s.

McNamara reiterated the need for care in the case of Jake Hyde, who made his return from injury from the bench at Accrington.

“Jake isn’t quite ready for a start," he said. “He doesn’t feel 100 per cent yet. He did some work today with those who didn’t play on Saturday.”

Further forward, midfielder Russell Penn and Luke Summerfield are both at least two weeks from action after injury lay-offs.

McNamara is considering George Swan as a defensive option, despite his lack of minutes this season.

“George hasn’t played a lot of games. We won’t know if he’s fit enough to step in until we try it," he said.

“We’ve got a lot of players suffering from confidence, with the lack of a settled back four.

“I’ve told the players that it’s a fresh start.”

Rhys Turner, whose loan deal expires after Saturday’s League Two game against Plymouth, is cup-tied in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, to McNamara’s disappointment.

“I thought Rhys did well when he came on” said the manager.

“He had good energy to get in behind them, he was very positive. It’s unfortunate he’s unavailable. We are talking to his club about extending his loan.”

Tonight’s opponents Barnsley are in the midst of a poor run of results, having lost their last six games in all competitions.

Former Scottish international McNamara understands the frustrations of City supporters at the Minstermen’s similar struggles.

“It’s a cup game, and they are naturally favourites being above us in the leagues," he said.

“We can go there and cause an upset. A win would be massive for us.

“Hopefully we can go there and play with a bit of freedom. The supporters were fantastic at the weekend, they really helped the lads.

“It must be frustrating for them watching this unfold.

“We need to get back to doing things properly for them.”