Barnsley FC will play 'the long game' with Nicky Cadden as Michael Duff provides an update

The summer arrival from Forest Green has featured just twice so far this season, with his last appearance coming in the 1-0 win over Cheltenham Town on August 6.

The left-sided wing-back has suffered two relapses in his recuperation so far, with the plan now being to take a gradual approach to his recovery, which is likely to mean that he will remain on the sidelines for the near future.

The club do have some insurance in the shape of Ziyad Larkeche, whose arrival on loan from Premier League side Fulham was announced on Monday after receiving confirmation from the English Football League.

Duff said: "It is just conditioning now and get him (Cadden) to a point where he does not break down again.

"Do we want him back involved? Yes. But we have sort of tried to fast-track him twice and the muscle is not clearly letting us do that.

"So we are going to have to take it slow and steady to play the 'long game.'

"First and foremost, it is getting a load of training into him which is what he was doing in pre-season and build it up that way.

"Then it will be a case of can we get him in (under) 23s games as they are constant at the minute. It might be a case of fitting him in for the last half an hour and then building it from there."Despite being inactive in League One on Saturday after games were postponed as a mark of respect to the late Queen Elizabeth II, the time was used to stage an in-house practice game at Oakwell.

Duff felt it was a valuable experience and remains philosophical over the decision to call off the football programme and could appreciate both viewpoints in terms of those who supported the move not to play and those who would have preferred games to be played in order for the national sport to pay a full weekend tribute.He commented: "It is way above my pay grade in terms of what should or should not have happened. You can see it from both sides.

"People would have paid money and travelled and people would have wanted to pay their respects. But football crowds being football crowds, would they have behaved themselves 100 per cent? I am not so sure."You just deal with the hand you have been given. We did 'prep', trained and picked the team and went all through the set-plays knowing it could get called off."It was the topic of conversation and particularly good for the younger ones as the royal family is a topic that gets talked about in the dressing room."You talk about service and loyalty and all the things that the Queen stood for, I think it is good that it opens up new conversations in the dressing room rather than the usual nonsense that normally goes on.”