Angus MacDonald says his three-game suspension 'felt like months' but was delighted and surprised to start against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley.
The Reds captain and centre-back missed the games against Sunderland, Preston and Derby after his red card at Sheffield United then was left out of the squad for the 130th anniversary fixture against Aston Villa on Saturday. But the 24-year-old returned to the side for the Carabao Cup tie against Spurs and starred in an impressive Barnsley performance despite the 1-0 loss.
Angus said: "I have been itching to get back out there but it was my fault because it was a silly red card. There is no good timing to do something like that and be sent off, but to miss three massive games and then not be involved against Villa on Sky in the 130th anniversary game was heart-breaking. The international break nearly killed me because it felt like months since I played. I have had to work really hard to get back in and they certainly worked me harder in training after the red card, and rightly so. I didn't expect to start at Wembley but it was great."
MacDonald signed for the Reds just after the 2015/16 season in which they won two finals at Wembley. He played with most of that team, including his current colleagues Adam Davies and Adam Hammill. He said: "They never shut up about it so it's nice to finally have played at Wembley as well. It's probably nowhere near the experience they had but it's a good experience nonetheless. I have had few highlights, like scoring against Wednesday, but playing at Wembley is definitely one of my favourite games.
"It was great to play against a team like Spurs. Everyone in the dressing room wants to play at the highest level and play against some of the best players in the Premier League.From one to 11 we imposed ourselves on them and we can take a lot of positives. It was a good night. It was a backs to the wall job sometimes but we defended really well. We had two or three excellent chances and it would have been a different story if we had put them away. We probably created better chances than them but we couldn't take them."
MacDonald will now focus back on the Championship, in which Barnsley have picked up seven points from as many games and are currently 20th. He said: "The position in the table doesn't do us credit. We should be a lot higher with how we have played. But we have a game in hand and the league is so tight that two wins takes us from the bottom five to the top five. We just need to pick up some results."
