Jose Morais acknowledges that he will come up against Paul Heckingbottom with Paul Heckingbottom's team tomorrow but believes it will be an advantage for his players rather than their former head coach.
After Heckingbottom left hometown club Barnsley for their bitter rivals Leeds United in February, Morais inherited a side who had won only once in 17 games, scoring nine in that run, and had just slipped into the relegation zone under caretaker Paul Harsley.
The Portuguese has won two of his 11 games so far, losing five and drawing four while the Reds have been more free-scoring under him with 14 goals.Heckingbottom worked closely with this third-bottom Barnsley squad but that does not worry his replacement.
Morais told the Chronicle: "You never know your players enough because, when they play against you, they will probably show you what they really are."When they play for you, they want to please you so much that sometimes they are not showing you everything. Hopefully, the team that he built will reward him with a performance that will make him say: 'wow, these players are much better than I thought.'"
Morais added: "He did a good job. I took a team that he prepared, I could say that it is his team. I had two months with them, he had two and a half years with them. I wish him all the luck with his career, after our game against him.
"He left the team in the best position he could. In terms of the table, we weren't in a good position when he left and we are not in a good position now, not yet."
Leeds have won three of their last four matches against Barnsley, with the exception being at Oakwell last season when Heckingbottom's Reds won 3-2 on Sky in January. Leeds won 2-0 on their return to Barnsley in November with first half goals from Samuel Saiz and Ezgjan Alioski. Barnsley have only won one of their last nine matches at Elland Road since 1990, a 2-1 success under Keith Hill in November 2011 thanks to first half goals from Ricardo Vaz Te and Craig Davies who is the last Red to score there.
Leeds beat Barnsley 1-0 four years ago yesterday which was a crucial result in their last relegation season and defeat tomorrow would be another huge blow.Morais has had a good recent experience of a Yorkshire derby, as his side won 3-2 at home to Sheffield United earlier this month, coming from behind late on.
He is hoping for more of the same, saying: "It is a very massive game. We will show the opponent that we stand for our town and for our club. These next two games will give us a clear picture of what we are capable of achieving."
