Barnsley FC head coach Neill Collins gives an update on the condition of Luca Connell and his thoughts on whether Coventry City target Liam Kitching is distracted by transfer talk

The former Bolton Wanderers and Celtic player, outstanding in his maiden campaign for the Reds in 2022-23, is yet to feature this season and his reassuring presence in the middle of the park was missed in Tuesday's home reverse to Peterborough United.

His condition is improving slowly, but there is no definitive timescale regarding his return.

Providing an update, head coach Collins, speaking after the 3-1 loss to Posh, said: "Very, very slowly.

"We are getting to the bottom of his illness now. He is again a person who we look at and are slightly missing.

"Jon Russell is another guy who has been really excellent and he could have had a goal at times (on Tuesday) and there were a lot of positive things.

"But we go 1-0 (up) and you are looking at potential changes, then someone like Luca Connell gives you that defensive (side). The quicker he is back, the better."

Tuesday's game proved a tough one for captain Liam Kitching, who had a difficult second half and was at fault for Posh's third goal, scored by the excellent Kwame Poku.

The one-time Leeds United defender has been a target for Championship side Coventry City, who have seen a £2.5m bid rejected, but Collins scotched talk of him being distracted by transfer talk.

The Scot, whose side were leading 1-0 on Tuesday, going into the final quarter, said: "It’s too simple to say he’s distracted, based on his general performance.

"Would we say everybody was distracted for the last 30 minutes? I don’t think it’s down to that. These things happen.

On whether Barnsley's game management let them down versus Posh, Collins, whose side host Oxford United on Saturday, continued: "You have to manage the game from the first minute. There's still a long time left.

"But at 1-0, of course like anything, you have to manage the lead. We just completely changed from what we are doing and seemed to become passive and disjointed. I don't think it was necessarily game management in all situations. It was multiple things.

“We have been ahead twice (in games) now, but how do we make sure we try to do the same things with the same intensity? You have to go through these moments to learn. Very few teams go through a season winning every game and never learning any lessons.

“I am a realist. I have been in the game long enough to know that 7-0 was a great experience (in the first home game v Port Vale) but we certainly didn’t think that we were going to be running away with things."