JAMIE Reed looks ready to return to York City’s front line for the Boxing Day trip to Mansfield Town.

Former Bangor City striker Reed has missed the last three matches with a knee problem and, with Jason Walker also ruled out for Monday night’s match against Kidderminster, Gary Mills opted for a three-man attack of Matty Blair, Ashley Chambers and Danny Pilkington that lacked a recognised centre-forward.

With Walker waiting on the results of a groin scan and the City chief still holding reservations about Moses Ashikodi’s fitness levels, Reed is expected to get the nod at Field Mill over Liam Henderson, who has returned to Bootham Crescent following his loan spell with Forest Green Rovers.

About his attacking options for Monday’s game, Mills said: “Jamie Reed is back in training so, hopefully, there will be no reaction and we will have a player back, which is good. Liam Henderson picked up a bit of a dead leg in his last game for Forest Green but he’s back training with us now and he’s another one in the squad.

“We sent him there to get fit and sharp and to find himself, if that’s the right term. They wanted to take him on longer so they’re disappointed but that shows he has done well.

“He’s coming back at a time when Jason Walker is injured and Jamie Reed has been out for a couple of weeks so it’s decision time for me as to whether I play him. Moses is still trying to get up to the speed we like to play and the fitness levels I expect from my players.

“He’s not there yet but we’re working hard to get him as sharp as possible. He knows he has to do that and the quicker he manages it the better for everybody.”

Jon Challinor, meanwhile, will return to his former club when City travel to face the Stags but Mills revealed that the 31-year-old utility man is yet to sign the extended deal he has been offered at Bootham Crescent.

Mills said: “Jon Challinor has been offered a contract until the end of the season but he’s yet to sign it so, like Danny Pilkington and David McDermott, he remains here on a non-contract basis.

“Being non-contract obviously works both ways. They could go somewhere else at any stage or be released.”

The City manager added he is looking for a positive response following the club’s first league defeat since the end of September.

He is particularly hoping for an improved defensive display with the 3-2 defeat to Kidderminster following on from a 2-2 draw to Solihull in the previous home game with all five goals conceded in the first half.

Mills said: “We’ve had a lot of clean sheets in the league of late so I was a bit bamboozled and gobsmacked by what went on on Monday.

“Earlier in the season, we were giving goals away in the last ten minutes of matches but we’ve conceded early goals in each of our last two homes games and that cannot keep happening. Monday was our first defeat in a long, long time and didn’t feel nice.

“We’re not used to losing and don’t want to get used to losing but being beaten is part and parcel of what you must go through. It’s how you react to being beaten that matters.

“Manchester United never lose the next game after a defeat. Defeats don’t concern them, they make them stronger.”

Mansfield lie tenth in the table, seven points behind fourth-placed City ahead of a Christmas double-header, with the Stags visiting York on New Year’s Day.

Mills expects Paul Cox’s men to be highly motivated, saying: “They will know they can get closer to the top five if they can beat us.

“They are a direct team.”