Michael Duff was delighted with Barnsley’s performance in their 3-0 win over Bristol Rovers but knows it cannot be a ‘flash in the pan.’

The Reds were well on top as they registered a second league victory of the season and a third in four games in all competitions.

Head coach Duff told the Chronicle: “Bristol Rovers are a good team so to be that dominant from minute one was really pleasing. We carried on the performance from the second half on Saturday when we were dominant against Derby. It is nice to get a goal early and settle nerves.

“Bristol Rovers are used to winning. I think they have had 18 wins this calendar year, you can see and hear the spirit they have and they look like a together group. We had to match their intensity and talked about having an underdog mentality.

“I was happy with all aspects. The press was really high and they did it well. We moved the ball well at times. We kept the clean sheet. We did everything well.

“The only disappointment was the game wasn’t dead at half-time. I didn’t really like the last ten minutes of the first half. We almost got bored of what gave us success. But we got back to it in the second half.”

Duff is keen that his side repeat that performance consistently. He said: “We won’t get carried away after one win. The group hasn’t been used to winning. It’s 3-0 and everyone will say how great they are. But the most important thing is to come in Thursday and get ready to go again.

“We have to keep doing it. It can’t be a flash in the pan. We have to stay humble, recognise what got us success then do it again, again and again.

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Just because we were good tonight there’s no guarantee we will be good on Saturday. Just because we won two home games in a row doesn’t meant we’ll win a third.”

Devante Cole opened the scoring in the third minute with his first goal of the season. Duff said: “I am really pleased for Devante to get off the mark. We have said we want another striker but there are shirts available. Jack Aitchison and Luke Thomas were really good as well.”

Jordan Williams got his first ever league goal with a 30-yard strike which took a big deflection into the bottom right corner. He said: “I am glad it went in because I was shouting at him. But we want to encourage them to have freedom in the top third. If he blasts it over he blasts it over. But it’s a really nice moment for him.”

Josh Benson netted his third goal in as many games across the last six days. Duff said: “A Carlsberg week for him. Emotionally he can’t get carried away. Just as he wasn’t the worst player in the world last year, this week doesn’t make him the best player at Barnsley now. It’s a brilliant finish and it was a really, really good performance.”

Defender Robbie Cundy added: “The main thing is back-to-back home wins. We want to make it a tough place to come. We were the dominant team. In the first 30 minutes, it was all us. Then we maybe took our foot off the gas a bit but we were back on it in the second half.

“The boys were top drawer, pressing from the front like the gaffer wants. Scoring within a few minutes is always a nice cushion. We built on it.

“We want to restrict the opposition to as few chances possible. They didn’t have any clear-cut chances. We defended well and we have to keep doing that.”