Tom Bradshaw says his brace at boyhood club Aston Villa is one of the very best memories of his career and is hoping it is the start of a goal-laden run to the end of the season.
The 24-year-old scored twice in the 3-1 victory on Tuesday to move onto seven goals for the season and become the top-scorer at Oakwell. He told the Chronicle: "It was a special night. It's definitely in the top two or three moments in my career along with scoring two goals on my debut for Shrewsbury when I was 17.
"It was a fantastic win for the club and great for me to get two goals. Scoring is what drives me and hopefully I can now get into double figures as soon as possible then keep on scoring all season.
"I probably went to ten or 15 games at Villa Park when they were doing well in the Premier League under Martin O'Neill and half my family are Villa fans. There were five or six of them in the home end and only my girlfriend, my dad and my other uncle – who is a Birmingham fan – in the Barnsley end. It was a bittersweet moment for the Villa fans in my family because they were happy for me but gutted to lose."
Bradshaw would have had a hat-trick if he, rather than Adam Armstrong, had taken the penalty to open the scoring. He said: "In hindsight it would have been nice to get a hat-trick. But Adam really wanted it and it was a great penalty."
Head coach Paul Heckingbottom had forgotten to tell the players who he wanted to take penalties in the absence of Josh Scowen, who had taken over spot-kick duties after both Sam Winnall and Conor Hourihane left in January. He said: "I had not thought about who would take a penalty so, when we got one, I thought 'oh no'. But I saw Arma get the ball and knew it would be fine."
Heckingbottom also praised Bradshaw, who is pleased with the draw at Reading and the win at Villa at the start of a tough run of fixtures which will now see the Reds host Brighton and Huddersfield. He said: "It was always going to be a tough month but we've got four points this week which has been a massive confidence boost.
"We believe we can stick in the race for the top six until the end of the season. Everyone at the club believes we should be in there."
