Thursday's Daily Mirror linked the club with a renewed move for Fulham defender Ian Pearce. The 31-year-old former Blackburn and West Ham player turned down the chance to join on a long term loan last week, but may be tempted now the limit is three months and especially after Chris Coleman managed to boost his defensive options with the capture of highly rated French defender Philippe Chritanval. Pearce would provide much needed competition, not to mention back up, for current first choice centre back pairing Jason Shackell and Craig Fleming.
Worthington himself has spoken of his desire to exploit the vagueness of the new ruling allowing 'emergency' loans outside the transfer window. He told the club's official website of his hard work behind the scenes.
"Patience has got to come into play," said the Ulsterman, no doubt a happier man following his nation's shock win over England. "A lot of players are away on international duty and teams want to see if they can get them back fit before letting any others out."
Worthington has clearly continued to seek high level recruits but is likely to be after players of similar calibre to current loanee Dean Marney. Names touted include Aston Villa's Luke Moore, Charlton's Kevin Lisbie and Arsenal'a Arturo Lupoli. All three fit the profile desired by the manager, who failed with bids for strikers Francis Jeffers and Clinton Morrison.
City have until midday on Friday to bring in new faces for Saturday's match. They will already be without Leon McKenzie, Peter Thorne and Darren Huckerby, and may also lose defender Simon Charlton and midfielder Marney. On the upside, Andy Hughes and Adam Drury are ready to return to action following injuries, and Paul McVeigh and Ian Henderson are among the options to partner Dean Ashton after scoring for the reserves on Monday.