YORK City boss Jackie McNamara has revealed Josh Carson's surprise recall was a reward for the work he has put in during training.

Carson, 22, was handed only his fourth start of the season during Tuesday night's 3-1 home win over Portsmouth and played out of position at left back.

But the former Northern Ireland international earned praise afterwards from McNamara, who reasoned that Carson was better prepared to take his opportunity in the team than he has been previously.

"Josh's performance replicated the way he's been training," the City chief explained. "He covered more than 11 kilometres from left back and he wouldn't have been able to do that a few months ago.

"We are monitoring everybody with the GPS equipment during the week and, while James Berrett missed three games recently, his readings have been way up there as well in training and we knew he would be up to speed when he was back out there. The players in the team are now covering a couple of kilometres extra in games than they used to do.

"That's is a massive difference and you can see that because we were running away from Portsmouth at times. That is all down to how intensely you train.

"You can see the ones who put it in during training because they can do it in a match. Those who save themselves during the week don't last 90 minutes and end up coming off with knocks or cramp."

McNamara has also suggested the club will look to introduce performance-related contracts for next season, adding: "I want to reward success rather than paying people for turning up or even when they don't."