Jacob Brown was a teenager in the stands at Wembley when Barnsley last reached the Championship and he is hoping to play a bigger role in the next promotion but without the need for a play-off final.
The 21-year-old was an under 18s player when the Reds came from the bottom of League One in December 2015 to gain promotion the following May. He is now a regular starter and goal-scorer in the first team which is hoping to avoid the play-offs by finishing in the top two.
Brown told the Chronicle: “A few seasons ago I was in the academy and I saw the team that got promoted. I was thinking that was what I wanted to do. To be in a team that has a chance of promotion this season is a massive change but I am liking it.
"Hopefully we will get promotion again this time, but hopefully not at Wembley. We know we have what it takes to get over the line but we just need to show it.”
Brown has netted in each of Barnsley’s three games, taking his tally to eight for the season. He has scored and assisted regularly since becoming the first choice right winger in January after the sale of Brad Potts.
He said: “I just have a lot of confidence at the moment, even if I don’t get a goal. “When you’re given a chance to play in a team, you just want to repay the team and the manager and goals and assists are the best way to do that.”
Barnsley’s regular midfield of Brown, Alex Mowatt, Cameron McGeehan and Mamadou Thiam have contributed more than 30 goals between them this season.
“Strikers will get most of the goals, that’s what they are there for. But you need the other players to chip in with goals and assists as well. It’s a team game and we’re all doing our best.”
Brown was sent off at Southend last month and served a three-match ban before netting four in five games on his return. He said: “It was hard for me being on the sidelines for three games but the lads did well and it’s really nice to be back.”
