Barnsley are hoping to use the upcoming run of five successive home matches to recover their form after two defeats.
Tomorrow’s game with Bristol Rovers is followed by the visit of Southend United in the league a week later then the Reds play two midweek Checkatrade Trophy matches either side of the FA Cup visit of Notts County. Barnsley were beaten 2-0 at Charlton Athletic on Saturday and 3-1 at Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday.
Head coach Daniel Stendel told the Chronicle: “We are looking forward to these five home games. We can rely on our supporters and the main point is to show a reaction to these defeats and to thank the fans for their support. A lot of fans travelled for three hours to Shrewsbury to see a bad performance so we need to show a reaction.
“We have played very well in some home games, like against Luton in the last match at Oakwell. We want to win a lot more home games this season starting on Saturday.”
Centre-back Ethan Pinnock added: “It will be a huge part of the season, we’re looking at a chance to re-establish our form with those five home games.”
Barnsley are currently unbeaten in their last ten home matches. It is a run that began in March after the 2-0 loss to Millwall and includes the final four Oakwell fixtures of last season as well as the first six of the current campaign.
The run contains five wins and five draws and is the longest since a 14-match sequence at Oakwell under Simon Davey from August 2007 until January 2008.
Barnsley are currently making their longest unbeaten home start to a league season in 15 campaigns since 2003 when they did not lose any of their first 11 Oakwell games under Gudjon Thordarson before being beaten by Chesterfield in late December. This current run is their longest unbeaten start in all competitions since the 1976/77 campaign when they won their first 11 including cup matches.
The coaching staff have admitted that the display at Shrewsbury was the Reds’ worst of the season so far, as they were comfortably beaten by a team in the bottom half just 17 days after thrashing second-placed Peterborough United on their own turf. Shrewsbury adopted a physical approach and dominated most of the game.
Stendel said: “At the moment we can’t really explain the performance on Tuesday. Saturday at Charlton was not the best but not that bad, against a good team. But Tuesday was very different, from the first moment we were not 100 per cent. It was the first time that we didn’t play how we can play, we were too nervous and we weren’t the Barnsley FC from this season.
“Since the Fleetwood game (a 3-1 win on September 29), I have the impression that opponents think they need to be more aggressive and intensive against us. We reacted well against Fleetwood and won but, against Shrewsbury, we didn’t. We need more protection from referees but we also need to be better. I hope we learn from this and remember that we can show our style in every game.
“It’s hard for the supporters to watch the game in Shrewsbury and we have to be better. We need to stay calm, it was one bad game. We have had so many good games this season.”
The Reds have let in seven goals in their last three matches, doubling the tally conceded this season. Stendel said: “We have conceded too many goals in the last three games, more than in all our other games. We have enough quality to score but we need to defend better.”
Barnsley’s two losses this week have left them fifth in League One – nine points off leaders Portsmouth and five behind Peterborough who have each played a game more. Assistant coach Andreas Winkler said: “We don’t look much at the table. We have said as coaching staff that, until Christmas, we will just look at the next match and look at getting the players to play our style of football. “After Christmas, we will see what we can achieve in the rest of the season.”
