Michael Duff said Barnsley were ‘ruthless and relentless’ in their 5-1 win at Forest Green Rovers but there was a ‘tinge of disappointment’ that they didn’t win by more.
The scorers were Adam Phillips, twice, Slobodan Tedic, James Norwood and Devante Cole.
Duff said: “We were ruthless. You always want more and there was more in us.
“There is a tinge of disappointment which is good really. We know there’s more in there. We weren’t at full tilt for the whole game. But we don’t disrespect the scoreline. It was a relentless, professional, ruthless performance.
“It’s hard to win away from home - you have seen that in our last few away results and the other results today. We can’t be greedy because you don’t win 5-1 away very often.
“Gloucestershire has been kind to us, with the 4-0 at Cheltenham. If we could pick up Oakwell and move it down here, I would be quite happy.”
Barnsley were awarded their first league penalty of the season, when Bobby Thomas was fouled. Adam Phillips saw it saved but turned in the rebound for 4-0.
“We still haven’t scored a penalty. It was probably the 15th strongest appeal for a penalty we’ve had but it was a penalty.
“The stupid thing is we didn’t have a nominated penalty-taker. We did earlier in the season when Stylesy (Callum Styles) missed at Leeds. We have not bothered since. It might be something we have to revisit.”
Duff brought Tedic into the 11 for top-scorer Cole and the Serb scored the first of three set piece goals in the first half.
“I know Coley wants to play and will be disappointed but it’s good he has had to sit and watch because it keeps the fire burning.
“We went for a bigger team today. We thought we would get something from set plays. We thought they would dig in and make it difficult.
“We had six in the box and Nors (Norwood) is the sixth tallest. I would imagine their sixth biggest marker isn’t as big as Nors. The back three are all bigger than me and I am six foot three, then Boban is six foot four.
“Corners are an important part of the game and it set the tone and killed them off pretty quickly.”
Tedic added: “We are happy because we lost the last two away games. Everyone is happy about it.
"Usually I always go to the first post, the first time I go to the second post I score.
“I didn’t play in the first 11 a lot of times so I am very happy to start. I try to be professional all the time and give 100 per cent when I play.”
Ziyad Larkeche made his third start of the season at left wing-back and came off with cramp midway through the second half.
Duff said: “He hasn’t played much, and it is during Ramadan.
“He was due to come off after 75 minutes but the cramp made the decision for us early. Hopefully it’s nothing serious.”
Barnsley are now onto 81 points with 25 league wins.
“Normally historically 85 gets you in the top two and 75 gets play-offs. If you had offered me anything that started with an eight at the start of season I would have snapped your hand off, with what we walked into. But it won’t be enough so we have to keep going.”
Sheffield Wednesday lost at Burton Albion and slipped down to third below Plymouth and Ipswich who both won.
“We just want to keep winning. I said a few weeks ago that all four teams wouldn’t win every game. Every matchday a team has dropped points and that will continue.”
