Ethan Pinnock was pleased to captain Barnsley during their friendly win at Salford City as he looks to play a key role this season after just nine league starts in his first year at the club.

The 25-year-old centre-back played the full 90 minutes of the 1-0 win and was given the armband after Adam Davies came off injured early on. New head coach Daniel Stendel has used five different skippers so far including Cameron McGeehan, Kieffer Moore and George Moncur. Pinnock told the Chronicle: "It's always nice to be captain. It makes you come out of your shell a bit. It is an added responsibility and you just have to make sure everyone is doing their job.

"A lot of players have had the armband in pre-season and it's up to the manager who gets it when the league games start. All the boys can be leaders anyway, whether they are captain or not."

Pinnock is pleased with pre-season so far which has brought three wins from as many friendlies. He said: "It's good to get the wins. It's not completely results-based but we are coming through pre-season well. We are just looking to step up our performances every game. For me, it was good to get my first 90 under the belt this season."

Pinnock arrived from Forest Green Rovers a year ago, having helped them to promotion into the EFL in his first season with them following six years at Isthmian League club Dulwich Hamlet while also completing a degree in physical education. He was mainly a back-up last season and missed several chunks of it due to injury.

He said: "Obviously everyone was really disappointed with the relegation and we're just hoping to bounce back this season. It won't be easy but I think we have a good set of lads and, if we work hard and play to the manager's instructions, I reckon we'll be there or thereabouts. The aim for all the boys is to get promoted. We're really ambitious.We just didn't have quite enough last season but I think we have gelled now and we have managed to keep the main core of players."