Tomorrow's home game against second-placed Brighton and Hove Albion will be a 'benchmark' game for Barnsley as they try to compete with top sides in the Championship, says their head coach.
Since ending an autumn run of one win in 11 league games, the Reds have won eight of their last 14 – drawing three and losing three – to move up to ninth in the table, six points off the play-off places and 20 clear of the relegation zone. Their league position and points total of 49 is their highest after 32 Championship games since 2000.
Paul Heckingbottom's men have the second best away record in the Championship – behind leaders Newcastle – with 26 points from 16 games on their travels. But the Reds' home record is the 17th best in the division while no side has conceded more goals at their own stadium than Barnsley at Oakwell, where they host Chris Hughton's Seagulls tomorrow.
Heckingbottom said: "I enjoy playing the top teams and Brighton at home will be a benchmark to see where we are. "They have got some fantastic players. They have been challenging in the last three seasons and have been unlucky not to go up in the last two. They will see it as their time to get into the Premier League and they deserve to be there.
"We were soft at Brighton (a 2-0 loss in Sussex in September) and didn't do ourselves justice. We didn't make it difficult enough for Brighton down there."
Although his side are just three places outside the top six, Heckingbottom is refusing to discuss the league table or the prospect of a play-off push. He said: "We honestly don't talk about the league. Our focus is always the next game. If we are still in the hunt by the last game, I will look at the table. That's what we did last season because we had to consider results in other games. Before then, there's no point."
Brighton put themselves in an extremely strong position with an 18-match unbeaten run from early September to early January, including 14 wins and 11 clean sheets. Since then, they only won three of their last seven league games – losing two and drawing two – while they were also dumped out of the FA Cup by non-league Lincoln.They were 11 points clear in the automatic promotion places and top of the league three weeks ago but are now second, a point behind leaders Newcastle and four ahead of third-placed Huddersfield Town.
They are no longer the league's tightest defence after conceding 11 in their last five matches. While they are unbeaten in 13 matches at the Amex Stadium – a six-match winning home run ended with Tuesday's 1-1 draw against Ipswich – they have struggled away recently. A 97th-minute penalty at Brentford two weeks ago prevented a run of four straight away losses.
The Seagulls have won just once in their last 14 visits to Oakwell, losing nine. They have four wins there in 22 games overall but their only victory since 1972 was a 2-1 success in 1991. Alex Mowatt will return after serving a three-game ban for his debut red card against Wolves last month.
