YORK City defensive trio Keith Lowe, John McCombe and Marvin McCoy could all be farmed out on loan before Wednesday’s transfer deadline.

All three players were left out of manager Jackie McNamara’s squad for today’s 3-2 defeat at Leyton Orient and McCombe is yet to be included in a match-day 18 under the ex-Dundee United chief.

McNamara has made it clear he wants to trim his Bootham Crescent squad and, when asked if centre-backs Lowe and McCombe, were free to seek new pastures, the City chief said: “They could come into that category and there are one or two others because Marvin McCoy wasn’t involved (at Leyton Orient) either.”

Striker Vadaine Oliver bagged a brace at Brisbane Road but McNamara was cursing defensive sloppiness again, as two goals from Jay Simpson and a Mathieu Baudry header condemned the visitors to a sixth successive defeat.

“We were very nervous at the start,” McNamara added. “They had us on the back foot for the first 25 minutes and I was very disappointed with the goals we lost again.

“We got a lifeline at 2-1 going into half-time and were the better side in the second half but we lost another preventable goal with their only real chance. We then caused them problems at times and got ourselves back in it again but it was too late and those careless individual errors didn’t give us a chance.

“Two of the three goals were about taking responsibility when you’re defending and that’s very frustrating and something I’ve got to put right. I’m very angry because there’s not been a great deal in all of the games since I’ve been here and we’re scoring goals and could have had more but, if you lose silly goals, it’s difficult to get back into matches.

“We should have got something from the game – if not a victory, then a point, but it’s almost like we’re waiting for something to go wrong before we look to fix it and make things happen. I need to sort the defence out because we can’t keep saying the same things.

“I was a defender and I prided myself on winning my one-to-one battles and not leaving my job up to somebody else. That’s not been the case whilst I’ve been here and the goals I’ve seen the team concede before then.”

City received great vocal support from the 581 travelling fans in East London and McNamara admitted the club’s faithful followers merit a better reward for such loyalty.

“Our supporters were fantastic and deserved better than our poor defending,” he reasoned. “I want to make them happy because they deserve that.

“The players are lucky to have them because they’re not turning on them and are backing them for the full 90 minutes. The players need to show the same passion and defend like their lives depend on it.”

Oliver, meanwhile, took his season’s goal tally to eight and earned praise from the manager, who said: “He led the line well and was unfortunate not to get a hat-trick as their keeper made a great point-blank save from him.”

City chief McNamara handed Jonathan Greening his first start in senior football for 18 months following his second-half outing the previous weekend after re-registering as a player at Bootham Crescent.

But the 36-year-old veteran was withdrawn just before the hour mark with McNamara explaining: “Play was bypassing him a little early on but, as the game went on, he got on the ball more. It was a difficult one for him though.”

On-loan Huddersfield defender William Boyle also made his full Football League debut with the City boss declaring: “I thought he was excellent because going to Leyton Orient was a big test for him.”

Skipper Michael Coulson could be a doubt for Tuesday night’s trip to Portsmouth, though, after being replaced late on.

“He’s had a hip problem and had to come off,” McNamara revealed.