Adam Davies has become a father in recent weeks but is hoping to avoid another new experience and stop Barnsley being relegated.

The 25-year-old goalkeeper missed the 2-0 home defeat against Millwall last month as his partner was giving birth to daughter Porter, who is now five weeks old. Davies said: "It has been a very busy time but it's an absolute joy. She is as good as gold so I am enjoying that."

Davies signed just after Barnsley were relegated to League One in 2014 and is desperate to stop that happening to the club again, which would be a first relegation in his career.

"You don't want a relegation on your CV so we will be doing everything we can to prevent that. It can take a long time after relegation to get back to where you want to be. There are four cup finals to go. We all know the position we are in and what we have to do to get out of it. No one wants to shy away from it."

Tomorrow Barnsley travel to Leeds United who are managed by their former head coach Paul Heckingbottom, who left in February and who Davies has played under for the majority of his career. He said: "Hecky was great with me and I don't have a bad word to say about him. He stuck by me through times when I wasn't playing too well and I set records for appearances on the spin. I can't thank him enough but we won't be pals during the game and I want to get one over on him.

"It will obviously have an extra bit of spice with what happened with Hecky. I hope the fans show him respect but I can't see it because he's gone to one of the biggest rivals."

On Heckingbottom's replacement, Jose Morais, Davies said: "It was quite a bit different for myself and a few other players thought that too. But we are really starting to grasp what he wants and starting to execute it on the pitch."

Davies played the bulk of his 123-game run of consecutive matches under the previous head coach whose last act in charge was to drop him for Nick Townsend for a 1-0 loss at QPR in February. Davies soon forced his way back into the team under Morais and is now likely to play the remainder of the season as Townsend broke his finger in a training ground altercation with defender Dimitri Cavare.

Davies, who has played all of his 161 career games for the Reds, said: "I don't like sitting on the bench, it's not nice. But it happened and you learn from it. You get a different perspective from the bench which can help. I have come into the last few games refreshed and ready to go. I didn't want to come out of the team but maybe subconsciously I needed a bit of a rest. I feel good out there now. Everyone has dips in form, it's just how you deal with them.

"I feel like I am firing on all cylinders now."