A CHANGED Barnsley team will look to show a reaction from their midweek thrashing when they visit Peterborough United in the second round of the FA Cup on Saturday from 3pm.
The Reds have not reached the third round of the FA Cup – in which Championship and Premier League clubs enter the draw – since 2023 when they lost at Conor Hourihane’s Derby County.
Hourihane has said there will be multiple changes to the team from Tuesday’s 5-0 EFL Trophy loss at Port Vale, ahead of important league games with Lincoln and Leyton Orient.
The head coach said: “There will be changes because we play on Tuesday then Saturday in two important league games.
“We will still want a reaction from the Port Vale game.
“We want to win and get through, the big clubs come in after this.
“But we have to take everything into account. Ideally we put a team out that puts a performance in which hopefully ends up with the right result and then go into the league games.
“We will still take it very, very seriously.”
Captain Luca Connell added: “It’s important we focus on Peterborough and get the job done but everyone knows the big teams come in in the third round.
“You would be lying if you said you didn’t think about that.
“We had that experience against Man United last season, it was good to go to Old Trafford but we don’t want to concede seven again. We want to test ourselves against the best and see how far off it we really are.”
Posh are fourth-bottom in the League One table, one point adrift in the relegation zone and nine behind the Reds.
They took just one point from their first seven games of the season and, despite winning three of the next five, they were bottom of the table when they sacked long-serving manager Darren Ferguson in late October.
He was replaced by former Notts County and Swansea City boss Luke Williams who won his first four games in all competitions, including a 5-0 thrashing of then top six side Wimbledon and a 3-0 beating of then leaders Stockport County.
They then lost 1-0 at home to Stevenage and 2-1 at Doncaster Rovers then went down 1-0 at Swindon Town on Tuesday in the EFL Trophy.
Hourihane said: “They started very strong under Luke.
“They have had a couple of poor results recently.
“Luke likes to keep ball and be possession-based.
“We will have to be very good out of possession and we’d like to have spells on the ball ourselves.”
Peterborough beat Cardiff City in the first round of the FA Cup while Barnsley won at home to non-league York City.
Barnsley left-back Nathanael Ogbeta played 20 games on loan to Peterborough in 2023 from Swansea where he briefly worked under Williams. But Hourihane said he is injured for this game.
Barnsley have already visited London Road this season, winning 1-0 in August thanks to Caylan Vickers’ deflected goal.
The Reds are unbeaten in four games against Posh, while their last six visits to the Cambridgeshire club have brought four wins and two draws.
The Reds have visited Peterborough in December in 2022, 2023, 2024 and now 2025.
The clubs have met 47 times, with Barnsley winning 19 and losing 20, but never in the FA Cup.
On the loss at Port Vale, Hourihane said: “I didn’t see it coming.
“I felt like the lads were in a really, really good place over the last three or four games and they had trained really well.
“I just think we were really, really poor
“Before the game, I was saying our performance against Port Vale in the league was one of our poorest and that was another one to add to that catalogue.
“Watching it back, there was no energy and intensity.
“Credit to Port Vale – they had their chances and played good stuff.
“The most disappointing thing is I wanted the team to have a professional performance with the right mentality.
“It wasn’t there so I was disappointed.
“I don’t want to see that again any time soon.”
