Barnsley 2 - 2 Sheffield United

Morgan missing as absentees pile up for Blades

Updated: November 8, 2009, 12:11 PM UK

Sheffield United manager Kevin Blackwell will struggle to field 11 players in Monday night's derby clash at Barnsley.

Blackwell was without nine first-team players for last week's home defeat to Newcastle and then lost Kyle Walker to an ankle ligament injury and skipper Chris Morgan, who is suspended after reaching five yellow cards for the season.

Morgan's absence means he will not come up against Iain Hume - 12 months after his controversial aerial challenge left the Tykes striker with a fractured skull.

Defender Jordan Stewart strained his calf during the warm-up on Monday night and was forced to play due to the injury crisis, but now he has also been ruled out.

Gary Naysmith, Derek Geary (both knee), Richard Cresswell (ribs), Jamie Ward (broken wrist), Nick Montgomery (knee), Lee Williamson (back), Andrew Davies (knee), Andrew Taylor (thigh) and Paddy Kenny (drugs ban) are all still unavailable.

Blackwell could be forced to name some injured players on the substitutes' bench again after an unfit Williamson made up the numbers against Newcastle as his side chase a first win in seven league matches.

Barnsley, in stark contrast, will just be without suspended skipper Stephen Foster for the Oakwell clash.

Central defender Foster received his fifth booking of the season in last week's win at Peterborough and subsequently serves a one-game ban.

Manager Mark Robins will choose between either Bobby Hassell or O'Neil Thompson to step up and partner Darren Moore in Foster's absence.

Robins has no other new injury or suspension problems and is unlikely to make too many changes to last week's line-up.

Jon Macken and Daniel Bogdanovic hope to spearhead the Tykes' attack once again after both scoring at Peterborough, although Hume will be keen to return to the starting line-up.