Hill remains positive despite injury worries

Midfielder David Perkins was the latest addition to the Reds’ horrendous injury list on Tuesday, when he came off with a tight hamstring in the 3-1 loss at Wolves that will keep him out for 10 days.

It is the last thing Hill needed with his engine-room options threadbare with Toni Silva, Matt Done, Jim O’Brien, Paul Digby and Reuben Noble-Lazarus all on the sidelines.

Hill failed in a loan move to bring in Doncaster Rovers’ James Coppinger to bolster his midfield department on Thursday and while he is hopeful that he can make more progress on the loan front once the transfer window closes and the temporary market opens, he is currently having to make do with what he has got.

Hill, who remains solely in the market for loan signings, said: “I can understand to a certain degree clubs keeping players at their football clubs because there’s a lot of games in such a short space of time.

“The window is obviously going to close shortly and it’s then I think you will see maybe a loosening off where players will be made available on loan. At this moment in time, there will be a lot of players maybe leaving on permanent moves.

“Once we get the window closed, there’s a possibility that loan moves will be more accessible.

“At the moment, we’ve just got to deal with the situation we’re presented with in the games coming up with 11 fit players.

“We have to deal with it because in terms of our squad in its entirety, I’m really, really pleased with it. I can’t see the problem with having our squad when fully-fit taking on the demands of the Championship.

“Unfortunately, at this moment in time, we haven’t got a fully-fit squad, but I’m really happy with it in terms of the players we’ve assembling to make an impact in the Championship. It’s just a little bit sad we can’t do that at the minute with the injuries we’ve incurred.”

Perkins yesterday extended his contract at Oakwell until 2014. Perkins made 38 apprearances for the Reds last year.