Phil Parkinson admits it will be a tough battle to land an extra recruit before the 5pm loan deadline.

The City boss has been given the green light by the board to make another temporary capture.

Parkinson put in several calls yesterday but faces the added obstacle of finding a suitable player who is not cup-tied.

He said: “We’re exploring a few options and we’ve spoken to other managers and agents.

“We may get someone in but only if we feel he will add to what we’ve got. We’re not looking just for the sake of it.

“It’s difficult because managers are reluctant to let players go at this moment because of the busy period coming up.

“We’ve also got the situation where three of our next five games are in the cups. So ideally we’d like players who could feature in those.

“From the player’s point of view, they might not want to come here if they know they will hardly be able to play in the next two weeks.”

Parkinson may not necessarily go for a centre half despite John Egan’s sickening injury which cruelly ended his stay from Sunderland.

The City chief added: “We’ve got Rory (McArdle), Carl McHugh, Doyley (Nathan Doyle) and Tom Naylor who can play in there as well. But if someone comes up which complemented that then we’d certainly look at it.”

Egan has been moved back to the north-east after spending Tuesday night in Bradford Royal Infirmary. He is now in hospital in Darlington and faces an operation at the weekend.

The Irish defender said: “I just want to thank the fans and the staff for all their support. All I can remember getting in the ambulance was hearing all the noise of the fans, it was amazing.”

Meanwhile, City had around 700 tickets left for the Arsenal clash after the first day of sales to ticket-stub holders. They are expecting a sell-out crowd of more than 23,000 for next month's Capital One Cup quarter-final having re-opened the top tier of the north-west corner.