YORK CITY manager Russ Wilcox may delve into the loan market to strengthen his side’s attacking prowess before the League Two opener against Wycombe Wanderers.

The Minstermen chief was again without his attacking trio of Michael Coulson, Emile Sinclair and Jake Hyde as his side were beaten 2-0 at Harrogate Town and he admitted their continued absence is becoming more and more of a concern.

City bore little threat in the final third against the Wetherby Roaders and Wilcox said that even if those players were available for today’s game at Darlington 1883, Wednesday’s clash with Newcastle at Bootham Crescent and Saturday’s trip to Halifax, they would only be seen in “short glimpses” as they worked towards full fitness.

Wilcox was also without James Berrett against Harrogate, the midfielder resting a stiff back, and he said: “It was just a little bit of stiffness in his back. We have had a tough, tough week at Champney’s and there was a little bit of discomfort in there.

“We are hoping he’s going to be okay, certainly for the Newcastle game. The others, we will have to wait and see a little bit. We need to get them back on the grass and get some fitness work into them first.

“If they are involved in any games it will only be short glimpses of those players, which is unfortunate because we are only two weeks away.

“I might have to do some work in the loan market and look at options there – of what we can bring into the football club, certainly at the top end of the pitch.”

Wilcox added: “It is a concern. We are two weeks away from Wycombe. We need to get players back on the grass as quickly as we possibly can and it was highlighted (against Harrogate).

“I think in the games against the Championship teams, where you haven’t got as much of the ball, it’s not highlighted as much because we have had to do a lot of defending in those games.

“We had more of the ball and didn’t use it well enough. The final third work, and the creativity in that final third, wasn’t good enough.”

Reflecting on the Harrogate defeat, Wilcox said it was a “bad day at the office”.

“It’s not the ending we wanted to a good physical week,” he explained. “Credit to Harrogate, they played well and the best team won. There are lots and lots of things that we obviously need to work on after that.

“We weren’t at it. We gave the ball away cheaply. We made poor choices. It was just a poor all round display and apologies to the fans who have travelled.

“You also have to look back on the three performances before and it is pre-season. No points lost, but obviously a disappointment.

“I am not going to hide away from the fact that the performance wasn’t good enough. We were stretched as a team, from back to front. We had been very compact in the last three games and Harrogate stretched us.

“The distances between our units were not close enough without the ball. With the ball, we didn’t use it well enough, we weren’t creative enough and then, when we did create opportunities, we snatched at things and didn’t work their keeper enough.

“All round a bad day office.”

But he added: “I am not going to be ranting and raving to the players. I have spoken to them and said that these things happen in pre-season.

“It is pre-season. I remember at Scunthorpe we were beaten by North Ferriby and we went on to get promotion that season. We are not going to get too down and we are not going to get too high with the performances against Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday.

“There will be no beating people with sticks. It is just getting back on the training ground, working on a lot of things we need to address and working from there.

“Getting people back on the pitch would help. We have got some quality players sat in the stands at the moment and that is a concern in the final third.”