Jose Morais is desperate to end Barnsley's 131-day wait for a home win and avoid a club record tomorrow when his side hosts one of English football's form teams, Millwall.
The Reds have not won any of their last ten matches at Oakwell, a run stretching back to November 4 when they beat Birmingham City 2-0, so a loss or draw tomorrow would equal the longest ever wait for a home victory set in both 1952/53 and 2012/13.
Tomorrow's visitors Millwall – who are unbeaten in 11 league fixtures and closing in on the play-offs – also have the chance to equal a club record tomorrow as they hunt a sixth successive away win. They had previously not won any of their first 13 away matches of the season.
Barnsley have won just two of their last 23 matches home or away in all competitions and only three of their last 27 home games since January last year.Victory in the 1pm kick-off could move the fourth-bottom Reds six points clear of the bottom three, who all play later and could draw Barnsley closer to the drop zone if the winless Oakwell run goes on. Morais regularly clapped and punched the table in front of him as he gave a passionate pre-match press conference yesterday in which he called for the fans and players to come together and end the bad home run. He told the Chronicle: "I will be very happy to end this run as soon as possible. Since November is a long time.
"But I also think that you need to be patient and we are growing with confidence. I think if we believe in the players then the results will come sooner than anyone could expect. I am so sure about what I can do and what the team can do that I don't doubt about the performances. I think we are very, very close to coming back to the glories and the victories that we need to have at home."
He added: "I don't know what the problem has been at home. I would like to see my team believing that this is our house and we are the owners of this space.We have to play with the confidence that, here, we get what we want and I want to transmit that confidence to the fans who I want to see screaming the names of the players with joy and happiness. At home we have our family so close so we can use that as an extra power and advantage.When the players do not have that passion and energy, I want the fans to give it to them and believe in the team."
Since getting the job a month ago, Morais has lost three, drawn two and won one of his six games as head coach with the victory coming at Birmingham after which there have been four matches without a win. He took over from Paul Heckingbottom, who left for Leeds United last month, and Morais praised his predecessor yesterday.
He said: "This was a group created for someone who did a really good job, Heckingbottom. I haven't said a word about him yet but I know he was and is a loved coach in Barnsley. I want the team to feel that they have a tribute to give him which is to make the job he did a valuable job and to keep the project where we want it to be. It is a project that still has to grow from the Championship up.
"You can't deny the history of the team. When I came I couldn't change anything. I didn't build the team. But I can continue the work that Heckingbottom did."He wanted to win and this is what we are trying to do. We respect the work he did according to the possibilities that he had. Now I am working to the possiblities that I have and I want to do even better."
Joe Williams is a doubt for tomorrow with a back problem while Matt Mills remains sidelined with a foot problem. Millwall have an outside chance of a second successive promotion and are one of the form teams in the Championship. Since beating Barnsley 4-1 in the FA Cup in January, they are unbeaten in the league with seven wins and four draws.
Their most recent six games have brought five victories. They are currently in a run of games against teams in the bottom third of the table and have beaten Barnsley's rivals in the battle against the drop Hull City, Sheffield Wednesday, Burton Albion and Birmingham City and Reading in the last two months.That form has seen them move into tenth, six points off the play-offs. They are also 22 points clear of Barnsley who they lost to in the 2016 League One play-off final before beating Bradford in the same game a year later.
Morais said: "Millwall are a team that have been winning in the latest games. They play a 4-4-2 and they are physically strong. We need to show them that this is our house and we are the bosses."
Former Barnsley loanee Ryan Tunnicliffe has played 25 games for Millwall this season but none in more than a month although he was in the most recent squad.Ex-Reds captain Jason Shackell joined the Lions on loan in January but is yet to start a league game. Millwall's 27 trips to Oakwell have seen them lose 16, including four by a 4-1 scoreline, draw five and win six with their last victory being by three goals to one in 2012. They have lost six of the last eight visits to Barnsley including the most recent three.
The Reds lost at Millwall in the third round of the cup earlier this year after Brad Potts had put them ahead, then Joe Williams was sent off. They had previously won their last five games against the Lions, including the league double in the 2015/16 and the play-off final at Wembley that season. Barnsley enjoyed a 3-1 success at The Den in September with a Tom Bradshaw brace and a Mamadou Thiam penalty. That result means Millwall are the only team in the current top 15 to have lost to the Reds this season.
This is a chance for the Reds to complete a third 'double' of the season after winning home and away against bottom three sides Birmingham City and Sunderland. It is also the middle game in a run of three successive home fixtures which began with the 1-1 draw against Norwich City on Tuesday and includes the visit of Bristol City on March 30 after the international break.
