Peterborough United boss boss on Tom Lees, striking a balance between youth and experience, and facing a Barnsley side with many attacking talents.

Posh were fortunate to only lose that game 2-0, although injuries, including a bad one to key defender Tom Lees in the warm-up, were a mitigating factor.

Posh now head to their third tough away game in eight days at Barnsley on Tuesday night as the loss at City followed a battling 2-1 win at FA Cup heroes Mansfield Town last Tuesday.

Posh expect an update on the health of Lees when the results of a scan on his calf come back later today. He’s expected to be sidelined for some time meaning a young defence could again take the field at Oakwell. Right-back Peter Kioso, who is 26, is available though after missing the Saturday defeat because of illness.

“We are a bit stretched as we wait for reinforcements to come back, but I have confidence in all of our players,” Williams said. “It is unusual to lose a player after the team sheets have gone in, but we can’t use excuses. We under-performed on the day and we must do much better job than that.

"It was cruel on Tom because he looks after himself very well. I watched him do his prep in the dressing room before he went out and he was immaculate. We should know more later today when we receive the results of the scan so I will be able to update everyone in a couple of days, but Tom has overcome worse setbacks in his career and I am sure he will be back as quickly as possible.

"It’s another tough away game, but we showed at Mansfield that we can win this sort of game and we proved at Bradford that we can be vulnerable so everything is in front of us.

"All teams benefit from having experienced players, but all teams also benefit from having younger players. We just need to get more of a balance, but players become experienced by being out on the pitch and I’m pleased to have given so many an opportunity. We have to brave as head coaches.

"Barnsley are a very impressive side whose form has not been as good as they would have liked in recent weeks, but they are a very exciting attacking team when they get things right. They have talented players who will be a huge threat so it’s up to us to combat that and try to exploit their weaknesses.”

Barnsley are seeking a hat-trick of wins against Posh this season. ‘The Tykes’ won 1-0 at the Weston Homes Stadium in an August League One game and repeated that scoreline in a second round FA Cup tie in December.