The Northern Ireland Under-21 skipper has one goal in 14 appearances for the Blues

Barnsley are banking on Makenzie Kirk returning from international duty with a spring in his step and much-needed goals after a struggling start.

That’s the verdict of Barnsley Chronicle sports editor Doug O’Kane, who believes the Pompey striker is low on confidence after one goal in his opening eight appearances for the 18th-placed League One side.

Makenzie Kirk has scored one goal in eight appearances for Barnsley so far. Picture: Tony Johnson | National World

Although he has since started seven matches, the 22-year-old has been substituted at half-time in four of them, while was an unused substitute in each of their last two fixtures.

Kirk is presently away with Northern Ireland Under-21s, skippering a side containing Pompey summer signing Eoin Kenny in Euro Championship qualifiers.

And O’Kane is hoping Kirk will return to Barnsley with a much-needed confident boost.

‘He has missed a couple of pretty big chances’

He told The News: ‘It probably hasn’t gone the way Makenzie Kirk or Barnsley would have liked.

Makenzie Kirk's future spent part of pre-season with Pompey before linking-up on loan with Barnsley. Picture: Habibur Rahman | Habibur Rahman

‘He has missed a couple of pretty big chances, which you have to be scoring, five or six yards out in home games. He definitely looks low on confidence.

‘Kirk came in from Pompey halfway through pre-season, so had a decent run up to the season in terms of time to get used to it, but then collected a minor injury on the eve of the campaign.

‘It wasn’t a long one, but it knocked him a little and I think that affected him. He started the first game against Wigan, but he wasn’t quite right in terms of his sharpness and fitness, coming off at half-time. He still hasn’t quite hit the ground running.

‘Kirk had a game away at Leyton Orient in August where he was brilliant in a 3-1 win. He scored, he held the ball up really well, he battled and was the focal point of the team.

‘He also got a head injury early on following an aerial challenge, needing to play in a bandage - and later was shoved into the advertising boards and hurt it again! He just carried on and the away fans got right behind him.

‘Kirk hasn’t really had another game like that, while he’s come off at half-time in four of his seven starts, which is not an ideal stat. Some of that was because of the injury and match-fitness issues, also Daniel Stendel (Barnsley manager) does make a lot of changes at half-time, so it’s not just him.

‘Having not been used off the bench in the two games before the international break, the hope is for Kirk to go away with Northern Ireland Under-21s, captain them, play in an environment he is comfortable in and hopefully score a goal.

‘Barnsley are banking on a change of scenery, so he’ll come back refreshed with a bit of momentum and he can go again.’

£500,000 signing from St Johnstone

Yet with the impending summer arrival of Marko Milovanovic, Pompey opted to let Kirk head to Oakwell in July for regular games.

O’Kane added: ‘Barnsley haven’t got many strikers at all, they have a few Academy kids they’ve tried and haven’t really cut it.

‘In terms of senior strikers, it’s Makenzie and Ben Toure. It’s early days, but neither of them have scored many goals - and the big talking point at Barnsley at the moment is how the strikers need to start scoring.

‘Personally, I think there’s a player in there with Kirk, but he looks a bit low on confidence. Hopefully a couple of goals for Northern Ireland Under-21s and Barnsley and we’ll see a bit more of him.’