YORK City assistant manager Neil Cox is hoping that Mitch Hancox can prove to the management team that he deserves an opportunity to start- after turning down an opportunity to leave two weeks ago.

Cox confirmed that the club had agreed a deal to send Hancox out-on-loan from the club, but the midfielder opted to stay put and rejected the loan deal to an unnamed side.

With the growing list of injuries at City, Cox is eager for Hancox to prove that he can have an impact in this squad, and wants the 29-year-old to work harder on the training pitch.

Hancox was named on the bench for City’s last four matches, but hasn’t managed a substitutes appearance yet.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries and people coming into the squad, there was a loan option a couple of weeks ago but he didn’t take it up,” Cox told BBC Radio York.

“Now we’ve got a couple of injuries he has been back in the squad, everyone has a chance of playing with all of these injuries but at the moment we are staying as what we are.

“If he gets an opportunity, then he gets an opportunity, other people have been out of the picture and worked hard, that’s what he’s got to do as well.

“He turned down a loan so he is in the building, he’s been training really hard and he’s good to have around the place, hopefully he can get an opportunity.”

Cox confirmed that he wants the players that currently out-of-favour to push themselves harder in order to nail down a place in the starting eleven for City.

“It’s a personal thing and we’ve spoken about it in the building already, the lads that aren’t playing need to push themselves a little bit more.

“Sometimes they look at us staff to push them but they need to push themselves, they need to go hard, it’s a mentality we need to get into this football club.

“The 11 that play, the boys that don’t need to work even harder and it’s getting that across and to understand that.

“We need people super fit to play for this football club.”