Barnsley suffered a disappointing 4-2 defeat at the hands of fellow strugglers Stoke City on Saturday.

The Tykes had looked improved under caretaker manager Adam Murray, drawing three of his first four games in charge, but came unstuck in the bottom-of-the-table clash against the Potters on the weekend.

One of the few positives from the game was young Austrian striker Patrick Schmidt opening his account for the Yorkshire club.

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With Barnsley 4-1 down in the 81st minute, the 21-year-old burst through to latch onto a ball over the top and then calmly slotted the ball past Stoke goalkeeper Jack Butland.

Schmidt arrived at Oakwell on transfer deadline day from Austrian top-flight side Admira Wacker and has been limited to substitute appearances so far.

The forward scored 10 goals for Admira Wacker last season and was one of the players brought in to bolster Barnsley's attacking options after the exit of Kieffer Moore.

Schmidt's early-season performances have earned him a call up to the Austria U21s squad for their upcoming UEFA Euro U21 qualifier against Kosovo.

Due to the international break, Barnsley's next game comes in 11 days' time and sees them travel to Ewood Park to face Blackburn Rovers.

Murray, or whoever is the Tykes boss at the time, will have an interesting decision to make–should Schmidt be given a start after getting off the mark for the Tykes?

We put a spotlight on his performances this season to assess just that.

After arriving on transfer deadline day, Schmidt has had few opportunities in the first team–making just six substitute appearances for the Tykes and playing for 130 minutes in total.

Schmidt has scored just one goal and contributed just one assist during that period, which is not a fantastic return but when you consider that those have come in the last two games it appears that the summer signing is beginning to settle and find his feet.

In his 130 minutes of football, the 21-year-old has taken five shots this season, hitting the target once, taken seven touches in the opposition box and assisted two shots–impressive statistics when you consider the short opportunities he has been given (having been on the pitch for more than half an hour only once).

Barnsley have relied heavily on the goals of Cauley Woodrow this season–the striker has six and no other member of the squad has added more than two in the league.

Amongst those are forwards Mallik Wilks and Connor Chaplin, who have partnered Woodrow for the majority of the season and added just one goal each.

Schmidt showed in the Austrian Bundesliga last season that he can find the back of the net and looks to have settled at Barnsley now–with Wilks and Chaplin struggling for goals, it's surely time to give the Austrian a chance in the starting XI.