It may be widely assumed that we're safe, but Saturday's home clash with Barnsley is an ideal chance to confirm everything once and for all, with our 2008/09 Championship status mathematically certain if we pick up all three points and other results go our way.

Certainly, manager Alan Irvine wants to continue the excellent unbeaten run in style, and hopes that any lingering fears can be allayed once and for all. His latest matchday comments bring you all his thoughts surrounding safety, injuries, pre-season aspirations and transfer tittle-tattle...

First of all, everyone will be wanting to know the current injury status of our recent goalscoring hero, Neil Mellor, after his withdrawal at QPR last Saturday. How is he?

"He didn't train with the players on Thursday, but he trained with the physio. He's come through everything that he's been asked to do and I would expect him to train tomorrow.

"It's a big relief, and good news, and though we're not sure about Saturday yet, it's looking likely, and the further good news is that Youl Mawene and Billy Jones trained on Thursday and came through without any problem having been out of action earlier in the week.

"Michael Hart had a bit of a knock on his ankle, but now he's fine too. He will certainly be in the matchday squad for Saturday, though I've still to pick the actual 16. Everyone else is fine - we seem to be ok."

You'll need everyone to be firing on all cylindars against a Barnsley side that came good in midweek.

"Barnsley played very well - and this is why I keep on saying that I think 54 points will be ok, but I don't want to say that it's absolutely guaranteed to be ok. Barnsley thoroughly deserved to win the game and that puts them onto 49 points. As I've been saying for some time, somebody's going to go down with a lot of points this year.

"I think 54 points will be enough, but it may be that you need as many as 54 to survive. Some of the sides down there have obviously got to play each other, so that helps because they can't all get points from every game.

"Nobody would have predicted that result on Wednesday night, especially on the back of the disappointment that they had at the weekend.

"We cannot underestimate Barnsley. They are coming here fighting for their lives, they've had some brilliant results this season, and are capable of getting some other brilliant results before the season ends."

You'll obviously hoping to avoid a continued backlash from that reaction to losing at Wembley.

"Well I hope not. Obviously that was as good a response as you can get to losing a semi-final, but while they're fighting for their lives they'll know they've got to pick up some very big points because they've got some very hard games in a tough run-in. They obviously got a fantastic result at the start of that run-in.

"We cannot afford to underestimate them, and we certainly won't do as a staff. I've got to make sure that the players don't underestimate them and hopefully our fans won't underestimate them either. I hope they don't settle back and expect us to beat them by three or four goals because they'll give us a very hard game."

Now that things are a little more comfortable, are you looking at revised targets for the players?

"We want to finish the season on a high.

"Since the turn of the year, we have been the form team along with Hull, and we want to end the season that way."

Injuries seem to be a common theme at the moment, but at least it seems to be a positive progression each time we discuss anyone who's currently suffering. How is Kevin Nicholls shaping up?

"He's ok. He's hoping to do a bit of running in the next few days and that's great news. He's feeling good, and doesn't feel as if he's got big problems, so that's great.

"Wayne Henderson is also making progress, and that's terrific as well. Grzegorz Szamotulski is close to training again, and we've done a bit of goalkeeping work with him this week, so we'll see what happens with him over the next week or so. However, I'm not so sure about him getting a game right now. He's missed a lot of football so I'm not sure if he'll play at this stage."

Just a quick word about Jason Jarrett, who is back at Springfields temporarily. Is there anything happening beyond his current knock?

"He's injured at the moment, but we expect him to be ok soon. We expect him to play for Oldham next weekend, but not this weekend.

"He's back here because Oldham are struggling in terms of a physio at this particular time. It was obviously a lot better for him to come back to us, get his treatment, and the moment that he's ready to train again, he can go back there."

When you arrived he was transfer listed - does that particular status still apply?

"It probably does, but to be honest I've never been told one way or another whether he's still on it or not. It's a strange one, isn't it, to think that somebody's actually 'on the transfer list', because effectively everybody could be on the transfer list.

"We'll wait and see what happens with Jason. He's our player and he's scheduled to come back at the end of the season."

Will everyone come back to Springfields in July with a clean slate and a chance to prove they're worthy of a place in your starting XI?

"Of course. We can't pick next year's teams on the basis of what's happened this year - we obviously have to move on, and players will be judged from the day they come back in.

"I'm going to stress to them how important it is that they look after themselves in the summer and that they follow the programme they'll be given, because I aim to hit the ground running when they come back in.

"There won't be a few days at the start where it's nice and gentle for them. If I wanted that, I would bring them back a week earlier!

"We will start off at a high tempo, and the players will have to be ready for that. If they break down, somebody will be ready to take their place, so it's completely up to them to make sure they come back in the right condition."

You've been linked with Dundee United midfielder Mark Kerr in sections of the press this week. How likely is he to be one of your summer acquisitions?

"I think because I'm Scottish I'm being linked with every Scottish player who is available! I don't know where that's all coming from, and it's interesting that the other boss who's also being linked with a number of Scottish players is Owen Coyle at Burnley, so you can work that one out!

"It was reported that I went to watch Mark at the CIS Cup Final, but I didn't go to the CIS Cup Final! I must have a lookalike. I was at Watford on Wednesday night and Blackpool the night before, so I've got enough games to watch down here without having to go and watch everything in Scotland as well.

"On Sunday I'm going to Ipswich and on Monday I'm going to Sheffield Wednesday so I've got more than enough to keep me busy without having to trail up there. As I said, it's probably because I'm Scottish that I'm going to be linked with building a team entirely consisting of Scottish players. Maybe that's my long-term aim! If we can get good players, I don't care where they come from.

"I know very little about Mark Kerr. I believe he's 'on a Bosman' at the end of the season, and I know that he's a central midfielder who's a nice footballer, but I've not been to see him, and we haven't sent anybody up to see him either, so I don't know where that's come from.

"I think it's the case that agents put things out to try and stir things up - linking a player with another club can then force somebody else to take action. I learned not to believe everything you read a number of years ago when I was working with the first team at Newcastle. I was reading one of the Sunday newspapers and they said we were after a particular player which I knew wasn't true. All of a sudden it makes you doubt every other particular snippet that was in that paper."

I doubt you'd be shouting to all and sundry if you wanted a player anyway?

"Of course. There are so many things you've got to watch out for in transfers these days that it's often the case that you can't say for certain you're going to get someone until they've actually turned up at the stadium, completed the medical, and signed that contract."

Will PNE overcome Barnsley? PNEBetting.co.uk is offering an intriguing 28/1 on PNE to recover from a half-time deficit to win the game.