Town boss Jim Magilton has no new injury concerns ahead of Tuesday's visit to Barnsley. Defenders Moritz Volz and Iván Campo remain on the sidelines with groin and calf injuries respectively.

The Blues are likely to be essentially unchanged, although Ben Thatcher could return at left-back after recovering from his illness, allowing David Wright to move to his more natural right-back position.

Young central defender Pim Balkestein impressed at Crystal Palace and Chelsea and so should keep his place alongside skipper Gareth McAuley with Saturday scorer Alex Bruce perhaps dropping to the bench. Tommy Smith remains on the sidelines after breaking his ankle in August, but should be back in action with the reserves before the end of the season.

In midfield, Veliche Shumulikoski will be hoping for a recall to one of the central positions, perhaps in place of Tommy Miller, with Owen Garvan taking up the other role.

David Norris is likely to continue on the left with Danny Haynes on the right, unless the Blues switch Jon Walters to midfield, in which case the former England U19 international will probably drop to the bench with either Jon Stead or Kevin Lisbie joining Pablo Couñago up front.

Assistant manager John Gorman says the Town coaching staff will consider the effects of Saturday's exploits against Chelsea before picking their team: "We will see how rested the players are and make a decision on Tuesday.

"Most of the lads are on a high because they know they played well, but we said before the Chelsea game that the Barnsley match was the cup final.

"We played well but didn't get the result, but what impressed me was how professional the lads were immediately after the game.

”They went out for the warm-down talking about Barnsley and wanting to do it right with this game in mind.”

The Tykes, who sit 17th, seven points and six places behind the Blues, have signed Maltese striker Daniel Bogdanovic from Lokomotiv Sofia and the 28-year-old could be available to face Town if he receives international clearance in time.

Winger Martin Devaney is back in training after ankle ligament problems, but may not be ready for a return to first team action in time to face the Blues.

Barnsley, who lost 4-0 to Norwich in their last game, are without defender Hugo Colace, who is out with a thigh injury, and skipper Steve Foster, who has just undergone a hernia operation. Michael Coulson (knee ligaments) and Iain Hume (fractured skull) are long-term absentees.

Boss Simon Davey was so angry about the defeat to the Canaries that he refused to give his players any time off over the weekend, despite having no fixture: "I hope that gives a knee-jerk reaction for everybody to start thinking that we need to apply ourselves right. We need to put that right on Tuesday night.

"I was going to give them a couple of days off because we have not been playing for a while, but I decided against it to make sure that they have been in doing double sessions.

"They have worked very hard, and I am sure come Tuesday night it will be a totally different performance to what we had in the second half at Norwich.

"The lads are still very disappointed, but there are no excuses. The first half was an even game, and we felt going into the second half that we had a chance of winning the game.

"It all fell apart, it wasn't acceptable, the players are disappointed, and we have just got to make sure that never happens again."

Former Town loanee Jon Macken joined Barnsley from Derby for £100,000 over the summer, having been on loan at Oakwell last season.

Defender Marciano Van Homoet is former Blue Fabian Wilnis's cousin and had an unsuccessful trial spell with Town in December 2006 before joining the Tykes the following summer.

Town's club captain Richard Naylor, currently with Leeds, spent time on loan at Oakwell late in the 2001/02 season, making seven starts and one sub appearance, while Jon Walters also spent two months on loan with the Tykes, back in 2003/04 when a Bolton player.

Striker Jordan Rhodes, currently on loan with Brentford, was a schoolboy with the Barnsley academy, where he worked under current Tykes boss Simon Davey, until his father Andy joined Town as goalkeeper-coach. Rhodes junior moved to Town's youth set-up for a fee of £5,000 in March 2005.

Historically, Town have beaten the Tykes 17 times (16 in the league), lost on 11 (nine) occasions, while only four (four) matches between the sides have been drawn.

The Blues' most famous win over the South Yorkshire club was the 1999/00 Wembley play-off final with goals from Tony Mowbray, Richard Naylor, Marcus Stewart and Martijn Reuser taking Town to a 4-2 victory.

Last season, Town lost 4-1 at Oakwell, thanks to Brian Howard's hat-trick and one from Jon Macken, Pablo Couñago having put the Blues in front.

Earlier this season, Jon Stead, Owen Garvan and Iván Campo were all on the scoresheet as the Blues defeated the Tykes 3-0 at Portman Road with Barnsley keeper Heinz Muller gifting two of the goals.

Tuesday's referee is Carl Boyeson from East Yorkshire, who has shown a lenient 26 yellow cards and one red in 21 games so far this season. Boyeson's most recent Town match was the 2-0 home defeat to Leicester City in February 2007 in which Owen Garvan was shown a straight red card for a two-footed tackle and Town skipper Gareth McAuley headed home both Foxes goals.

Likely squad: R Wright, Supple. D Wright, Thatcher, Bruce, McAuley, Balkestein, Shumulikoski, Garvan, Miller, Norris, Quinn, Haynes, Norris, Walters, Couñago, Lisbie, Stead, Bowditch.

Photo: Action Images

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