Matty James is pleased to come through three games in a week after no first team starts for 20 months due to injury, and he now hopes to play a full part in a Barnsley promotion push.
Since arriving on loan from Leicester City last month, the 25-year-old midfielder has started against Rotherham and his former club Preston and came on at half-time against Wolves. That followed just one minute of Premier League action this season after missing the previous campaign – in which the Foxes won the top flight title – due to a knee injury.
James told the Chronicle: "It has been tough for me, having three games in a week. I have played some under 23s games earlier this season but they are not the same level as the Championship. I think I have done quite well. I need to get sharper and get my head around the pace of the game and the battles for the ball, but I have had a full week of recovery and I will go again against Reading."
James, who has started 77 Championship games, has been brought in along with several others following the January departures of central midfielders Conor Hourihane and Sam Morsy. James said: "There are a few new players who have come in and some of us have not played football in a long time. So it does take time to get going, but it is going quite well.
"I have a little bit more experience than some of the other lads. I want to help them with my experience of the Championship and the play-offs if we get there. But there are players here who I can get experience from as well."
James, who gained promotion with Leicester in 2014, believes Barnsley are capable of doing the same. He said: "In my first year at Leicester we scraped in on the last day with one of the lowest points totals ever. So you should never give up and you can never dream too big.
"Any team down to 12th has a chance and we've definitely got a team which can do it. When I signed I could tell the standards were very high off the field and leading up to the game. All the staff work hard behind the scenes and it's a tightly-knit group and a family-orientated club."
