BARNSLEY assistant head coach Martin Paterson has confirmed that Adam Phillips is back in training after missing the club's weekend win over Burton with illness, but Tom Edwards remains a doubt for the Boxing Day trip to Accrington.

Phillips, who has scored five goals in his last six matches in all competitions for the Reds, is over his ailments. Edwards (knee), who sat out the Burton victory, is still being assessed.Meanwhile, Josh Benson (hamstring) is unlikely to feature at Accrington despite his fitness week going well.

The illness issues which afflicted the camp ahead of the Burton match are easing, Paterson also confirmed.He said: “Tom's is a short-term injury. He will be close in the next week or so. I don't know if this weekend is too close for him, but he is touch and go over the next week or so.

"It (illness situation) is slowly improving. It's not been completely eradicated, but it was considerably a lot worse last week. It's about getting everybody patched up and into training."We hopefully have enough time for everyone to be okay. At this moment, we are slowly improving."

Barnsley assistant head coach Martin Paterson.

On the situation with Philips and Benson, he continued: "He (Phillips) has integrated back into the squad this week, so he's trained yesterday (Tuesday) and will train again today and we'll see how he goes.

"I believe Josh has been making slow progress on the grass and now it's up to him and the physios in the next week or so to see where he's at. But I think he’s closer than we envisaged him being."I think it (Accrington) will possibly be too soon."

Barnsley FC provide updates on Tom Edwards, Josh Benson and Adam Phillips ahead of League One game at Accrington Stanley