Luton Town v Barnsley FC: Jack Shepherd hoping to lead as Reds look to turn promise into points
Winless in seven matches, in the League One relegation zone, shipping goals left, right and centre and with captain Luca Connell completing a three-match suspension, Barnsley could do with leaders.
Ask coach Daniel Stendel who can step forward at Luton Town on Tuesday, and he points to Patrick Kelly and Vimal Yoganathan but others are keen to as well.
Jack Shepherd may only be 25 and a late bloomer having started in non-league football but he has over 100 starts in the professional game, and loans at Bradford City and Cheltenham Town means he has experience at the top and more relevantly to the Reds now, bottom of tables.
His team need it because playing well up to a point is not cutting the mustard. Cieran Slicker could make his injury-delayed debut in goal on Tuesday, but has one fewer league start than the man he would be replacing, Rogan Ravenhill.
After 31-year-old Cameron McGeehan, Shepherd was the oldest starter in the team beaten in stoppage time by Cambridge United on Saturday. Barnsley's board are asking a lot of such a young group, but coach Stendel has no choice but to demand it.
"The perfect situation is when you have two or three leaders on the pitch," he says. "This is one thing we think about a lot, especially when the situation is tough.
"When we played the first half like we did here on Saturday and we went in front, then conceded five minutes after half-time it's not great, but we have 40 minutes.
"There's no reason we cannot win.
"This is the time for the leaders.
"Cameron and Luca are two guys that have the experience and also the quality to do it. But I also expect players like PK and Vimal Yoganathan to improve at this position.
"Both have the potential to improve in this role, in this club.
"We try to talk with this group more, to share opinions – what we can do better, what we can do more.
"We can show everybody we trust them and give them the confidence to do some things on the pitch, in training or in the changing room.
"PK has played on a really good level not only for Barnsley but Northern Ireland. A player with this quality has to take responsibility not only for his own performance, but also for the team's performance.
"In the last weeks he tried to take more responsibility in the games. I think it's a big step in his career."
It is one Shepherd wants to take.
"I enjoy that," says the defender, out of favour when the season started but now established.
"The gaffer spoke to me about leading the defensive line and that's what I try and do."
He has learnt a lot in since joining Barnsley from Pontefract Collieries three years ago.
"I think the main thing for me – and I especially learned about it last year – is not getting too high and not getting too low," he says.
"It's just about finding that middle ground, staying positive, and results will come. Performances are there, it's just finding it for 90 minutes.
"We've just got to stay positive. We are positive. We know we've got the quality to get stuff out of the game.
"We feel like we're in games. It's just about using our experience a little bit more and seeing games out.
"The main thing is just being a team, not being individuals.
"When results don’t come it's just about picking yourselves up, dusting yourselves off, and going again,
"It's not being too down because it's still quite early in the season."
He has been dealt a bad hand, but Stendel needs to find more from his players. He thinks he can.
"I have a really good feeling with this group, with what we do every day, also the feeling in the changing room is good," he says.
"Some small things can change a lot and for us,
"I'm really confident we can do it because of not only the last two games but a lot of games – Leicester, and Stevenage was a really good performance for a long time.
"A lot of times on Saturday, the game and our team didn't give me the feeling that we could lose.
"We do a lot of things right.
"It's our job to find the right way between improving as a group and as a player to have positive emotions on Saturday or on Tuesday night after the game.
"We want to show everybody that we believe in you, in your performance and your quality."
As Cambridge's winner showed, game-management is a big part of it, and an area Shepherd thinks he can lead.
"It's just about having the game-awareness and the IQ of knowing different situations in the game,” he argues. “You can plan all you want, do all the tactics you want, but you're never going to know what's going to happen in a game of football.
"It's all about being wise and smart when situations happen.
"We all need to be leaders and take accountability for certain stuff.
"A bad run is hard to get out of, but when you get on that (good) run, performances and results can come one after another. I feel that's what's going to happen once it clicks."