The most experienced manager in the Football League wants the coming month – in which will pass several impressive milestones – to also yield the wins and points which push Barnsley up the League One table.

Tomorrow's home game with Scunthorpe United is Danny Wilson's 250th match as Barnsley manager while he is set to take charge of the 1,000th game in his career next month.

Only Premier League trio of Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, Neil Warnock of Crystal Palace and QPR's Harry Redknapp have overseen more games of the current managers in England.

"It's fantastic and it's made me quite proud," Wilson said of his 250th game.

"If you said to me 'you can be here for ten more years and this will be your last job' I would take it now."

Wilson, who was in charge at Oakwell for four seasons in the 1990s before returning in December, says taking Barnsley to the Premiership in 1997 is the highlight of his career and he is seeking another promotion with the Reds.

The 54-year-old told the Chronicle: "It was the start of my managerial career. It gave me a great grounding. The second spell is totally different and football has changed dramatically since I was last here. This club has got a great infrastructure now I just want to take the club back to the Championship then see what happens after that."

Wilson's current team had won three games in a row before being beaten at near neighbours Chesterfield on Saturday and now face three successive home matches against the Iron, Doncaster Rovers on Tuesday and Chester in the FA Cup on December 7. The 13th-placed Reds are seven points off the top six and – with six points to play for and the Doncaster derby being a game in hand on teams just above them – the manager knows this week may be vital in catching up with the top six.

"We see these two games as quite pivotal. Scunthorpe is a local derby of sorts and Doncaster certainly is. We need to put the emphasis back on Oakwell being a tough place for teams to come. We have done that recently but we need to keep it going.

"I don't think we're in a bad position or a great position in the league.  It's so tight that nothing will be decided until the last ten or 12 games."

Scunthorpe, 23rd in the table, have scored twice as many goals away from Glanford Park as at home while nine of their 16 points have come on the road. The Reds have conceded more goals at home than any club in the top four tiers. Wilson said: "We're a very offensive team so we lack a little bit of steel at times when you go forward." 

The manager knows the Reds will have to perform better than they did at Chesterfield where he admits they were not at their best. He said: "It was a good game and both teams played well. We can't be that disappointed, particularly with the second half. "We need to improve defensively and in front of goal. I know we will."