Paul Heckingbottom is hoping to celebrate his 100th game in charge of Barnsley FC with the end of the current seven-match winless run at mid-table Fulham tomorrow.
The head coach has been in charge of 99 matches, if you include the three-game spell when he supported Mark Burton as caretaker in early 2015 between the sacking of Danny Wilson and the appointment of Lee Johnson. As for his spell in charge of his hometown club following Johnson's exit in February last year, he is currently on 97 games and the 100th of that run is due to be at Sunderland on January 1.The Reds have chosen to celebrate the milestone at the Fulham game.
Heckingbottom said: "It's a good milestone but it's flown by. A lot has gone off. I never thought I would be in charge of 100 Barnsley games. My dream job was to be the under 18s coach and I turned jobs down to get that role at Barnsley."
Tomorrow's game at Fulham is a second trip to West London in eight days for Barnsley who drew 0-0 at Brentford on Saturday. This match will take the Reds to their halfway point in their season and mean they have now played every club in the Championship.
Heckingbottom said last season – when Fulham won 4-2 at Oakwell in October then triumphed 2-0 at home to the Reds in January – that the Cottagers were Barnsley's most difficult opponent and his players were not equipped to deal with their passing style.
This season, although they struggled to recapture the form that took them to the play-offs, Fulham are top in the league for pass completion and second for both the number of passes and possession percentage.
"They did cause last season's team problems but we have a totally new team now. Fulham are good and we know all about the way they play. It's a nice place to go but it will be a really tough game. They have spent millions so they will have good players on the pitch, the bench and probably in the stands.
"We have to make sure we work hard without the ball then enjoy passing the ball and keeping it from them. We need to take the momentum from the good news of the takeover with us."
Slavisa Jokanovic's team are currently 12th in the table, eight points above Barnsley but also adrift of the top six by the same distance. They had won three out of four before a shock 1-0 defeat on Saturday at struggling Sunderland, who had not won at home in 2017 until then.
Their 11 league games at Craven Cottage this season have seen them score 11 goals and concede the same number. They have lost two home league games, and none in the last three since October, while they have drawn six and won three.
Barnsley have won just eight of their 40 games at Fulham, with only two wins there in their last 16 visits. The Reds did the double over the London club in the 1999/2000 season but have lost three and drawn one of the next four meetings.
