Sam Winnall has not been at his best in recent games and has to work on his technique, says his head coach.

Winnall, Barnsley's top-scorer, was dropped to the bench for Tuesday's win over York and has not netted in his last nine matches.

Reds boss Lee Johnson said: "Sam is a good player but I don't think he's been at his best recently and he agrees.  I don't think he's lost any confidence in the box but maybe outside of the box he has lost a bit of confidence.

"We had a good chat when I told him I was going to put him on the bench.  We will go through some video clips because I think there are a few technical things to work on.  He's working too hard, moving into the ball too quickly and not rotating his head enough. He did that much better when he came on against York.

"He's still in our squad and he's a big player for us.  I have got options and sometimes you have to use those options."

Winnall was replaced by Simeon Jackson who made his second start since signing in the summer. Johnson said: "Simeon has been unlucky because we have made decent signings and they have been ahead of him in the pecking order. He has that experience and there is no one at the club with a better scoring record.  He got one goal in every two starts when he was in this division a few years ago and he needs to get back to that level by working hard."

Marley Watkins is back in contention to play against Port Vale tomorrow after missing the York match through suspension following his fifth yellow card of the season at Altrincham on Saturday. Conor Wilkinson is also expected to return from international duty with the Republic of Ireland under 21s. Loanee Michael Smith – who has not scored in ten Reds games – is available after parent club Swindon did not let him play in this week's cup ties.

Johnson said: "It's fair to say that Michael Smith still has impressing to do and he would say himself that he hasn't made the impact he wanted to.  But football changes very quickly, especially for strikers. He could start against Port Vale and bang in a hat-trick. He just needs to keep working hard but try not to force things. We've got a lot of players coming back in attacking areas so we have strength in depth. We need to be able to freshen up the strikers after 60 or 70 minutes."