VIMAL Yoganathan is hoping to become more of an attacking threat for the Reds in the future and is focusing on becoming more consistent moving forward.

The 19-year-old scored his first EFL goal in Barnsley’s 2-1 win away at Doncaster in their last league game before the international break.

He scored four goals and registered three assists last season, helping Oldham Athletic to the Football League through the National League play-offs.

And he’s hoping to become more of a goal threat for the Reds moving forward.

He said: “It’s just a matter of trying to build on it.

“It was a good moment for me in my career, but it’s just trying to keep that momentum up and trying to get more goals in the league and other competitions.

“I’m trying to make it a strength of my game and the only way of doing that is training and trying to get in those positions more.

“The more I can do it, the more comfortable I’ll be in those positions.

“Maybe in the past couple of years, I probably wouldn’t say I would have been going forward as much.

“But in the more recent times, even before when I was at Oldham as well, I was just trying to get into those positions more and it starts to feel more natural.”

Yoganathan started Barnsley’s first three league games of the season but, after being sent off at home to Bolton in August, had to wait almost three months to start again in the league against Doncaster.

He’s hoping to cement his place in the starting 11 but knows he faces tough competition.

He said: “It’s not really a case of I’ve broken in now.

“We’ve got a lot of competition and a lot of talent in midfield, so it’s just trying to stay focused and take it game by game.

“Instead of thinking ‘I’m broken in now, that’s me done for the rest of the season’, I’ve just got to take it game by game.”

Yoganathan has made his way up through the Wales youth teams alongside his teammate Jonathan Bland.

His midfield partner Patrick Kelly has been called up to Northern Ireland’s first team squad and played eight minutes in his side’s 1-0 win over Luxembourg earlier this week.

Yoganathan has aspirations of making it at a similar level with Wales – but knows he has to focus on his club form first.

He said: “I’ve done well at under-19 level.

“I really enjoyed playing with the lads there and the gaffer Chris Gunter was great but obviously trying to break into the under-21s is a bit more difficult.

“I’ve just got to focus on what I do at club level, and hopefully that should take me into teams with the 21s.”