Gerhard Struber praised his players and the Barnsley fans after a 3-1 win over Hull City which he said was a ‘small step in the right direction’.
The last-placed Reds ended a run of 17 games without a win and cut the gap between themselves and safety from eight to five points.
The head coach said: “It is a very important win. The last days were very difficult for my players with bad results but today we had a clear plan and a very good conviction and self-confidence.
“I have spoken a lot to the players and I think the right plan and the right character were, in the end, the key for the result and the good performance.
“We scored three very good goals, especially Conor (Chaplin) who has a nose for goal and kept a cold heart to score it. Also we had very good defence today. I am very proud of my boys.” Struber also thanked the fans for their support. He said: “The atmosphere was amazing and completely different to Austria. It’s a special situation for me. The support is always important but, at the moment, it is very very important. I am very happy with the support from our fans.”
Struber said the win was ‘maybe’ a turning point but there is plenty of work to do for the bottom club. He said: “I am here in the last ten days and it is the first small step in the right direction, not more. We must work in the next days very very hard in my philosophy and to grow the young players up. In the end, we hope we can start a good run.
“My to do list is very long and we have a lot to do in the next weeks. We have a long week now with time for training. I hope, in the next game, we have a top performance.” Midfielder Mike Bahre added: “We haven’t won for more than three months. We had good performances but we didn’t get the results. Everyone was upset and disappointed in the changing rooms but, today, we deserved to win and everybody is buzzing.
“The difference today was that we scored at the right times. We have been leading other games but we conceded stupid goals and made mistakes.
“We showed on the pitch how we can play. Everyone was working for each other and no one was greedy. If we carry on in this way, I am confident we will stay in this league. It has been hard for the fans to see us not win for a long time but they were at our back today.”
