BARNSLEY will look to maintain their unbeaten home record in the league this season tomorrow when they host Port Vale who have several ex-Reds in their team and coaching staff.
The sixth-placed Reds have won three and drawn one of their four league games at Oakwell.
Vale are in 19th the table, with eight points from nine games.
After being promoted from League Two last season, they took only two points from their first seven games of this campaign in League One.
Following four straight defeats, they gained their first league victory of the season with a 2-0 win at Exeter City last week.
They then scored a 95th-minute penalty to win 2-1 at home to Mansfield Town who had a man sent off on 14 minutes.
Vale also lost 2-0 at home to Premier League giants Arsenal on Wednesday, after making five changes, so they have a day less to prepare for Saturday’s game than the Reds.
Head coach Conor Hourihane told the Chronicle: “They make it tough for you, they don’t give away many goals or shots. It will be a game of fine margins again, no doubt.
“When you get into their final third, they go into a back five and defend their goal. It will be difficult.”
He added: “They have had a couple of decent results in the last couple of games.
“It’s fine margins, a late winner went in their favour at the weekend.
“They had a decent display against Arsenal in the cup.”
Vale are managed by Darren Moore, the former Barnsley centre-back who appointed his old Oakwell team-mate Martin Devaney as assistant for this season.
Devaney left Oakwell in April as part of a coaching reshuffle under Hourihane, following almost two decades at the club as a player then coach.
Hourihane played down the idea that Devaney would have insight into his team and said: “Every team you play against now, there is always a link or player or someone who knows you.
“It’s part of the game. No matter who you come up against, everybody knows somebody in the team or there is some link somewhere.”
On Moore, Hourihane said: “I’ve met Darren a couple of times outside of football.
“He lives very very close to me.
“I have seen him out and about.
“I’ve played against his teams loads.
“He’s a lovely, lovely man.”
Port Vale also have Devante Cole who had two spells with the Reds, scoring 43 goals including a hat-trick the last time Vale played at Oakwell.
Cole was a team-mate of Hourihane on loan in the 2014/15 season then returned for a three-year stint which ended last year when he moved to West Brom where he barely played before moving again to Vale this summer.
He has scored three goals in as many league games so far.
Hourihane said: “I know Devante and he’s a very good player for the level.
“He’ll be coming back and no doubt keen to nick another goal.
“We have to be aware of his threat and he’ll be an important player for Port Vale.”
Another familiar face at the other end of the Vale team is likely to be goalkeeper Joe Gauci.
The Australian international signed for the Reds on loan from Aston Villa in January and played seven times in an injury-plagued spell before being loaned out again for this season.
Vale are the team Barnsley have played against most in their history, with 117 meetings.
The Reds have won 50 and lost 47.
Barnsley have won the last four, scoring 16 goals, with the most recent being a 3-1 success in Staffordshire in the FA Cup last season with goals by Marc Roberts, Davis Keillor-Dunn and Adam Phillips.
Vale lost 7-0 at Oakwell on the opening day of the 2023/24 season when, along with Cole’s hat-trick and an own goal, the scorers were Liam Kitching, Jon Russell and Andy Dallas.
