Some stories coming out of Barnsley FC over the weekend.
CONOR THRILLED WITH HOME WINS
Conor Hourihane was delighted to oversee a fifth home league win of the season for Barnsley on Saturday.
The Reds are now one win away from matching last season’s tally of league victories at Oakwell.
After the 3-2 defeat of Leyton Orient, Hourihane told the Chronicle: “It’s so important to win in front of your home fans. It’s brilliant to win in front of the away fans who travel across the county. But the home games are the bread and butter. We made a big thing in the summer about not wining enough at home but we’re ticking along nicely.”
The Reds have lost seven points in the final 15 minutes of games this season, but won five including the three they collected on Saturday as they scored in the 78th and 85th minutes.
Hourihane said: “We’ve got a habit of scoring late goals ourselves and coming back at home - like against Burton Albion. We hope it swings things in our direction to score late goals rather than conceding them.”
BOSS PRAISES KEILLOR-DUNN AND RUSSELL
Conor Hourihane praised top-scorer Davis Keillor-Dunn after he netted a 13th goal of the season on Saturday and said he hoped fellow scorer Jon Russell would now get more minutes.
Keillor-Dunn netted the winner and is the joint top-scorer in the division this season with ten goals. Captain for the day due to Luca Connell’s suspension, he tapped into an empty net after a mistake by a defender.
Hourihane told the Chronicle: “That’s what he’s there to do. He was captain and got the winner, credit to him to keep going and going. He will always be there for an opportunity. He didn’t have loads of chances but he pounced on a lapse of concentration.”
Russell got his first league goal of the season and his fourth in all competitions, with only Keillor-Dunn netting more. But he has not started in the league this season and played 136 minutes across ten appearances from the bench, sometimes not being in the squad at all.
Asked if that could lead to more gametime for Russell, Hourihane told the Chronicle: “Hopefully so. He’s got to keep putting performances in like that and knocking on the door. He was strong against Peterborough then missed training for a family situation. Potentially he could have started (against Orient) if he had been in training all week. It was a good opportunity for him to come in and credit to him, he’s put in another strong performance.”
LOWLY EXETER UP NEXT
Barnsley’s next game is on Saturday down in Devon against lowly Exeter City.
The Grecians dropped into the relegation zone this week after a 2-1 loss at high-flying Bolton Wanderers who came from behind.
While they have lost their last five away league games, they are unbeaten at home in six in all competitions – winning four.
Exeter are in financial difficulties, reportedly having to make job cuts, slash the playing budget and secure £600,000 in loans from the supporters’ trust to stay afloat.
Barnsley will look for a third straight win at St James Park.
Before then, Barnsley under 21s are due to play at home to Huddersfield Town on Tuesday from 1pm then the under 18s host Sheffield Wednesday from 1pm on Friday.
RED CARD FOR ONE LOANEE AND GOAL FOR ANOTHER
It was a mixed week for Barnsley’s loan players with Kacper Lopata sent off but Bayley McCann making it two goals in two games.
Lopata was shown a red card for a tackle for Bristol Rovers against Swindon on Saturday. It was 36 minutes into the game but his team were already 3-0 down, with the score staying the same until full-time. It was a tenth straight League Two loss which put them in the relegation zone and led to the sackings of former Barnsley coaches Darrell Clarke and Jon Stead.
Meanwhile, McCann scored for Alfreton in their FA Trophy game at Alvechurch. He put them 2-0 up on 13 minutes then came off at half-time with the hosts coming back to 2-2 before winning on penalties.
