Dilan Markanday is currently not with Chesterfield, it has been confirmed.

The attacker has impressed this season with goals and assists and his performances have led to rumours that he is set to be recalled by Blackburn Rovers and possibly loaned out elsewhere, with Leyton Orient linked. At the moment, it is in the balance, and it is hoped the picture will become clearer soon. He was not involved in the squad against Rotherham United in the EFL Trophy penalty shootout defeat on Tuesday night.

Danny Webb told the DT: "Dilan is a tough one. At the minute he is not with us. I won’t go too much into that. The supporters probably want a little bit of clarity on it all. When you do take these lads on loan and they do well and they don’t belong to you there is always a little bit of muddy water and a bit of confusion in that period between the crossover between them either coming back again and going back to their parent club. But, as it stands, he is not with us.”

James Berry has been the subject of a bid from Blackpool, which was rejected, and he was also missing against the Millers, but that was because of injury. Webb explained: "He wasn’t quite right tonight with his hamstring. You have to be careful with muscle injuries but he will be training with us fully on Thursday and he will be in the squad travelling to Grimsby.”

Chesterfield have signed two players in the last few days and the transfer window is open until February 3. On the possibility of more incomings, Webb said: "There are always targets. What you don’t want to do is bring four, five or six players in and then four, five or six players come back out of the treatment room and then you have a load of players. We have still got a big squad.”

It was felt that John Fleck needed more training days with a view to being available for Grimsby Town on Saturday, Webb explained. Paddy Madden is back in training later this week, while Jenson Metcalfe will return to full training on Monday. Michael Jacobs will also be back next week. Chey Dunkley has to make a decision on whether to have an operation on his neck and he is going to be out for a ‘while.’ Tyrone Williams has chosen not to have an operation on his shoulder and could be back in a couple of weeks, as could Harvey Araujo.

Ash Palmer was named on the bench for the first time this season after a long injury lay-off with a knee problem. Webb said: "A few weeks ago we put a few on the bench for morale but who weren’t going to come on. But our subs tonight were all able to come on tonight if called upon. It is great for Ash, he is a cracking lad, been out for a while, so credit to him.”

Chesterfield exited the EFL Trophy, losing 4-3 on penalties, after a goalless draw in 90 minutes. Webb continued: “We are really disappointed to go out. But it is a clean sheet against a really strong League One team. We defended ever so well, we played well going forward and there was so much effort. We haven’t trained the way we would have liked to have done because of the weather so the lack of rustiness was really pleasing.”

On Bim Pepple’s debut, he said: "He was a real handful. He put himself about, rolled people and won free-kicks. I think the supporters like him already. You can see what he gives in terms of 100%. He gave their two centre-halves a tough time.”

And on Janoi Donacien, who came on in the second-half, he explained: "I think it will take a bit more time with JD. He hasn’t played a competitive game for a while. He has trained a lot down at Ipswich, he is a fit lad, but there is a difference between training fitness and match fitness.”