BARNSLEY are back at Oakwell for the first time in three weeks since their 5-0 thrashing of Luton Town when they welcome fellow mid-table club Leyton Orient on Saturday from 3pm.
The Reds have played four straight away games, two in the league, with two defeats, a draw and a win.
Head coach Conor Hourihane told the Chronicle: “We’re hoping we can build on Luton.
“It was a big performance, the last time we were at home.
“We’ve had a long string of away games now and since then – some good, some not so good.
“It’s been a mixed bag.
“Hopefully we can get back to a good way of playing and performance that everyone will be really excited by and hopefully a good result as well.”
Orient are 12th, two places behind Barnsley on goal difference, but have played three more games.
They are the third top-scorers in the division with 30 but only lowly Plymouth have conceded more than their 30 goals let in – 20 of which have come away from home.
Richie Wellens’ team reached the play-off final in May, following a superb second half of the season, but were beaten by fellow London club Charlton Athletic then lost star players such as Charlie Kelman, Ethan Galbraith and Jamie Donley.
They have replaced them with current top-scorers Dom Ballard and Josh Koroma, both of whom were on Barnsley’s radar in the summer with Koroma doing a medical at Oakwell and posing for pictures in the Reds kit before the deal broke down.
They won just three of their first 11 league games, leaving them 18th in October. But have won four of their last eight and are unbeaten in four in the league.
After a 4-0 success at Burton Albion in their last away league game, they lost 4-0 at League Two Salford in the FA Cup on Friday then drew 1-1 at home to Luton Town in the league on Tuesday, conceding in the 96th minute.
Orient are without injured key players Idris El Mizouni and Aaron Connolly.
Hourihane said: “They are in the same process as us.
“They have some really good players but they have been a little bit inconsistent.
“They have been really good when it has clicked.
“On Tuesday against Luton, they played a bit differently because of the personnel they had out and we’ll expect similar.
“Some of the names who have been really, really exciting, we don’t expect to be back.
“But we need to fully ready for another tough game.”
Orient did the double over Barnsley last season, scoring eight goals.
They won 4-0 at Oakwell almost exactly a year ago then came from 3-1 down to win 4-3 at Brisbane Road on Good Friday.
The clubs have met 59 times with 24 wins each.
At half-time in the game, boxers Callum Simpson and Troy Williamson are due to take part in a ‘face off’ ahead of their fight a week later.
Barnsley man and Reds fan Simpson is due to defend his British, Commonwealth and European super-middleweight titles at Leeds Arena on December 20 live on BBC Three and the iPlayer.
