Carlos Corberan provides update on Huddersfield Town duo Jordan Rhodes and Matty Pearson

Rhodes, who joined the club for a second spell in the summer after leaving Sheffield Wednesday, featured three times at the start of the season, starting Town’s first Championship game of the campaign at Derby.

He has been sidelined since mid-August with a back problem, but took another step back into first-team contention by playing for an hour in the B team game with Blackpool in midweek.

The forward is scheduled to feature in the B team in a game against former club Middlesbrough next week. If all goes to plan, he could be in the mix for the game with the Sky Blues on December 11.

Josh Koroma, Josh Ruffels, Rolando Aarons, Mipo Odubeko and Jon Russell also featured in this week's B team game.

Head coach Carlos Corberan, whose side face a Championship derby at Barnsley on Saturday, said: “I considered what I planned before - for him (Rhodes) to play in that (Blackpool) game.

“I was talking with the physical (conditioning) and medical staff to see him a couple of times in the B team to recover his normal fit level, so that he can arrive in a good condition to help the first team. He had been without training for a long period of time, but he was in a stronger physical condition than I expected him to be.

“I don’t think it is now necessary to give him many games of ninety minutes. The other day, he played for sixty minutes and I plan the same for the next week. With these couple of games, he will be ready to help the first-team if he is in front of the strikers we have at the moment.

“We try to manage the B team games more to develop young players. But when the B team is a friendly game, we want to develop some of our players who are not having enough minutes and they can show what they can give to the team and offer to the first team. They have to show that they are fit enough to compete in the Championship. You want them to be in the right condition for the Championship.”

Meanwhile, Corberan says that defender Matty Pearson, who came off in the first half of last Saturday’s game with Middlesbrough due to a back problem, will return to the squad for the trip to his former club if he comes through training on Friday.

Corberan added: “The only player that was in doubt after the (Middlesbrough) game was Matty Pearson. He felt a pain in the back that he was managing before.

“He was working on the pitch (on Thursday) with the medical staff and if he is in a condItion where he can train tomorrow, then he will be another player who is available as he has lost the feeling of being unwell with the pain in the back that stopped him from playing in the (full) previous game.”