CITY will consider bringing back Shay McCartan in January.

The Irishman is currently on loan at League Two leaders Lincoln and scored his third goal of the season in last week’s 6-2 thumping of Port Vale to maintain their four-point advantage at the top.

McCartan, who has made 11 league appearances, is scheduled to stay with the Imps for the season – but City can cut that short in the next transfer window.

That is something that David Hopkin will seriously look at in his plans to attempt to reinvigorate his squad when they reach the halfway point.

Hopkin said: “Every player that’s out on loan gets monitored and we get feedback.

“But he’s definitely one that we can look at in January.

“He’s on loan for the season but there’s a clause in it that we can take him back then.

“There’s a clause in all of them and that’s something I will be looking at.

“He’s doing well and scoring goals and he’s someone we could do with at the club. If he continues to do that, then he’s definitely someone we will look at in January.”

McCartan had a difficult first year at City after arriving from Accrington in a deal understood to be worth around £200,000. He started only 17 times and scored four.

The Northern Ireland international admitted he hadn’t enjoyed it at the time of his switch to Lincoln in July.

“I want to get my confidence back and score a few goals,” he said before the loan move that he described as a “no brainer”.

Michael Collins was City’s head coach at that point and Hopkin has yet to see McCartan in action.

He added: “It’s difficult because Shay was on loan when I came here. I’ve never seen him.

“That’s not being disrespectful but he was away on loan, so it’s hard for me to comment until I actually go and physically see him in a game.

“But he has been doing well, which you’ve seen with his goals, and he’s technically very good.

“These are things that we will sit down hopefully in the next five or six weeks and discuss and start putting our final list together of who we want to bring back and who we can attract.”

Hopkin is looking to involve Hope Akpan in the squad against Coventry on Tuesday after the midfielder’s first week back in full training following his dislocated shoulder.

But his plans to give the likes of Akpan and striker Alex Jones some preparation by arranging practice games have had to be shelved because of lack of numbers.

Hopkin said: “We can’t because we haven’t got enough players yet.

“We’re getting to the stage now where we are getting players back. But we have to be careful because they’ve been out for so long.

“We can’t just organise a game for a player who’s been out for so long.

“We’ve got games coming up Saturday and Tuesday so the game time might need to be 10 to 15 minutes in the first team.

“It’s difficult for players, for fans and for myself. But we don’t have enough to give them that game time they need to be ready for the first team.”