Barnsley manager Keith Hill is set to turn to David Button to once again solve a goalkeeping crisis at Oakwell.
Hill is without both his first team goalkeepers Luke Steele and Ben Alnwick for the first game of the 2012-2013 Championship season against Middlesbrough on Saturday as Steele is still recovering from the abdominal injury that has sidelined him since March and new summer signing from Tottenham, Alnwick could be out for as many as four matches after his red card for head-butting in the 4-3 extra time Capital One cup victory at Rochdale two days ago.
That leaves only 19 year old Lithuanian Lukas Lidakevicius as the Reds sole goalkeeper, but Hill revealed to the local press yesterday that he does not believe the Under 19 international is ready to be thrust into the first team spotlight.
So Hill has revealed he will try to turn again to Alnwick’s former Spurs teammate David Button who had a nine game loan spell at Oakwell last season when Steele first suffered his injury in mid March.
Hill told the Sheffield Star:
“I might have to try and get Button in because he knows how we play. I definitely need to get a new keeper in, there’s no doubt about that.”
As revealed at the end of last week, Marlon Harewood, who scored four times in ten appearances for Mark Robins Reds in 2011 whilst on loan from Blackpool, will begin a trial spell at Oakwell today. The 32 year old who joined Chinese side Guangzhou and then had a short spell at his first club Nottingham Forest after leaving Barnsley, has been training down the road at Sheffield Wednesday for the past few weeks, but despite scoring a hat-trick in a 4-1 friendly win over Kilmarnock was not offered a contract at Hillsborough and will now look to impress Hill who need to bolster his attacking options with Mido sidelined for around nine weeks.