HEAD coach Conor Hourihane said ‘everyone is on the same page’ at the club after he met with the owners this week regarding the current situation at Oakwell – and he’s hoping to re-energise the season with a win at York tomorrow.

Barnsley are currently in 11th in League One following Saturday’s loss to Rotherham United at home.

They have played 12 games, winning five, drawing three and losing four.

The Reds are six points off the play-offs but only five above the relegation zone.

Barnsley are winless in the league since a 3-2 win against Reading on September 13.

They host National League side York City at Oakwell tomorrow from 3pm.

Hourihane says he had a meeting this week with the owners and that they are all ‘aligned’ with their vision for the club.

He said: “I think everyone’s on the same page at the football club and that’s the most important thing.

“There was a real good meeting at the start of the week with the people who needed to be in the meeting – from owners, to myself and Jon Flatman – everyone is really aligned of where the club wants to go.

“It was about the image we want to create and going back to the way the club was when I was a player.

“I think everyone realises the process.

“We want to win games of football along the way – there’s no question about that.

“But I think the drop-off (in form) probably looks dramatic right now because how well we started.

“The club is in really good hands and everyone’s aligned.”

The last competitive meeting between Barnsley and York was almost exactly a decade ago when Hourihane played in a 2-1 win at Oakwell in the EFL Trophy victory, inspired by new signing Adam Hammill, which was a key moment in their run to Wembley victories in that competition and the League One play-off final.

Hourihane is hoping someone will be able to bring the same ‘magic’ Hammill did on that day.

He told the Chronicle: “I remember we were in a little bit of a slump and we got the result and kicked on from there.

“I think it was Adam Hammill’s first game.

“It’s obviously a long time ago and it’s funny that we haven’t played them since them but hopefully somebody can come up with a similar bit of magic.

“Hopefully we play well first and foremost as a team.

“Then that can kick us on to a good result and into a good place heading into Donny.”

York have been in non-league football since 2016, spending five seasons in National League North before being promoted to the fifth tier in 2022.

They finished second last season on 96 points but lost 3-0 in the play-offs to an Oldham Athletic side including Barnsley’s Vimal Yoganathan.

The two clubs met in a pre-season friendly this year, with the Reds coming from behind twice to draw 2-2 thanks to goals by Caylan Vickers and Adam Phillips.

Hourihane said tomorrow’s match is a good chance to see how far his side have come since that game.

He added: “I think the pre-seaosn game was really competitive.

“They were a good side and I know they’ve obviously got a different manager now but we know the test that we’ve got a head of us.

“We’re now playing them at our place.

“It’ll be a really exciting game.

“I’m really looking forward to it but ultimately we want to be as high up the table as we can and push into that top six over the course of the season.”

York are currently seventh in the National League and are unbeaten in their last four games.

They have only lost once in their last seven.

Like Barnsley against Rotherham, York played another Yorkshire derby on Saturday when they drew 1-1 against Halifax Town.

The Minstermen parted company with manager Adam Hinshelwood in August and replaced him with Stuart Maynard who took Notts County to the League Two play-offs last season before being sacked.

York have Ollie Banks, son of Reds legend Ian Banks, who scored from distance against Barnsley both in the FA Cup for Barrow in 2022 and in the pre-season friendly.

Hourihane said: “I think they’re a club that are heading in the right direction.

“They’re trying to get out of their own league and they’ve got very good players for that level.

“We’ve got to be absolutely ready in terms of homework, mindset and application towards the game.

“We want to go out, set our stall out and win the game.

“They’ll bring a big following because they’re a good football club and they’ll try and get a result over us.

“So even though they’re at that level it doesn’t matter because some of their players could easily be playing levels above.”

Barnsley have played York 30 times, losing just twice – away in the first meeting in 1932 then at Oakwell in 1967 – drawing eight times and winning 20 including the last eight.

The only other meeting bar the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy win since the 1970s were victories in 2014 in the trophy and 2003 at Bootham Crescent in the FA Cup.

The only other FA Cup meeting was in 1953 when Barnsley won 5-3.