Reds wait for Muller permit

New keeper Heinz Muller was pencilled in to make his debut on Saturday, two days after agreeing a move from Lillestrom. Davey was still waiting today for permission for the German to play against Darlington in the Carling Cup tonight at Oakwell.

"He's signed a contract, we're obviously disappointed that he has not had his international clearance. We signed the player last Wednesday and we've still yet to hear from the English FA that we've got international clearance," Davey declared yesterday.

"We're hopeful that will come through in the next 24 hours. We're not holding our breath with them."

Nick Colgan will continue in goal if Muller is forced to remain on the sidelines.

Davey will use the same 16 players from Saturday's squad but he is set to tinker with the starting 11. Striker Kayode Odejayi looks likely to partner Miguel Mostto against the League Two outfit.

"It will be a full strength team, we will not be resting players. We lost on Saturday, we need to get the winning habit. We'll take this cup very seriously, we've not had a cup run at the club in a while. We're hopeful we can get a cup run this year," Davey added.

Injured trio Marciano Bruma, Bobby Hassell and Robbie Williams are out of contention again.

Darlington will be without first choice keeper Andy Oakes who is suspended after being sent off in their 2-0 win over Wrexham on Saturday. David Stockdale will take over.

Tim Ryan suffered a toe injury on Saturday and fellow defender Ian Miller is ineligible to play under the terms of his loan deal from Ipswich.

Chris Palmer will partner Steve Foster at the heart of the backline. John Brackstone is likely to fill in at full-back in the absence of Ryan.

Darlington manager Dave Penney said: "There is no pressure on us, we can go there, enjoy it and have a nice day out and try to get a result. Barnsley games, from my experience are tough ones. They will want to bounce back.

"We're not going to go and sit back and take everything they throw at us because we want to be positive as well. With Pawel (Abbott), Tommy (Wright) and Julian Joachim, we have goals in us."

Barnsley (probable): Colgan, Kozluk, Reid, Nyatanga, Souza, Devaney, Howard, Johnson, Ricketts, Odejayi, Mostto.

Darlington (probable): Stockdale, Austin, Foster, Palmer, Brackstone, Joachim, Ravenhill, McBride, Wright, Blundell, Abbott.

Barnsley's Grant McCann and Lewin Nyatanga have been called up for international duty. McCann is in the Northern Ireland squad to face Liechtenstein in a Euro 2008 qualifier at Windsor Park on August 22. Nyatanga, on loan from Derby, is in the Welsh squad for the friendly against Bulgaria on the same Wednesday.

Sheffield United's Keith Gillespie is also in the Northern Ireland squad but Gary Naysmith has been left out of the Scottish squad to face South Africa in a friendly at Pittodrie on August 22.

United manager Bryan Robson gave out firm 'in it to win' signals ahead of tonight's Carling Cup tie with Chesterfield but he admits he will tinker with the team.

Robson, who has been to the League Cup final as Middlesbrough manager, said: "There will be changes but we are not dismissing the cup competition. We go into the game expecting to win."

He has a squad with a clean bill of health from Saturday's 2-2 draw but will not bring skipper Chris Morgan back into the fray until Saturday's trip to Watford in the Championship.

The Blades boss could be handing out second chances to the centre back pairing of Chris Lucketti and Matt Kilgallon, the pairing in action in Morgan's absence against Colchester. He was openly critical of Kilgallon especially for Colchester's last gasp equaliser.