Toby Sibbick is the only Barnsley player to have played every minute in the Championship this season and says he feels comfortable in all three of the positions in which he has been used.
The 20-year-old, who signed from AFC Wimbledon this summer, started the first five games at right-back but was moved into central defence at half-time against Luton in the last home game before an injury crisis saw him excel in central midfield in the 0-0 draw at Wigan Athletic.
Sibbick said: “I am just happy to be on the pitch and playing for the club wherever I play. The good thing about it is that the gaffer knows I am versatile and I can play in a lot of different positions. It just comes from working hard in training and I think the gaffer likes how I play.
"He has given me the opportunity to play in the Championship and I am very grateful for that. If you apply yourself in training, it gives him a chance to play you and not take you out of the team. If you give your all, everything is possible and you play every game.”
Sibbick enjoyed his first experience in central midfield since junior football. He said: “I felt comfortable but that comes from the lads talking to me a lot and telling me where to be and what to do. Sometimes it can be a lonely place on the pitch but the boys helped me through it. I tried to give my all on the pitch and win every single ball and, if that doesn’t come, then win the next one. I think I did that well.”
Sibbick is not overly disappointed with Barnsley’s tally of five points from six games in the Championship which he accepts is different to League One where had spent all his career previously.
“For a newly-promoted team, it’s not the worst. We all think as a group that we could have got more points and there are a few games we could have done better in. It’s a lot faster than League One, you don’t have as much time on the ball and the tempo of the game and speed of the players is much quicker. But hopefully I am slowly adapting and, sooner rather than later, I can get better at this level.”
Sibbick says the international break is welcomed by the squad. He said: “It will be good for us to rest our legs, train well, eat well and recover properly for the big game against Leeds (on September 15). “Hopefully we can beat them because that would be massive for us.”
