DAVIS Keillor-Dunn says he and the other players linked with moves away from Barnsley in the final days of the transfer window have to ‘keep your head and do the job asked of you.’
The striker is the Reds’ top-scorer this season with 14 goals, after netting 19 last season. He and Reyes Cleary have been routinely linked with other clubs, ahead of Monday’s deadline day.
He spoke to the media after Tuesday’s game at Cardiff, after which speculation of a move away has increased.
Keillor-Dunn told the Chronicle: “It’s one of those things. It’s always going to happen around January.
“But as a player you keep your head and do the job asked of you. Whenever I am asked to play for this club I will give 110 per cent, simple as that.”
Asked if he saw his future at Barnsley all season, he said: “Yeah, that’s the main thing. The manager has a task in hand and we’re out there giving 110 per cent for that manager.”
Conor Hourihane’s Barnsley are 15th but have up to five games in hands on their League One rivals.
Keillor-Dunn said: “We’re not looking at the games in hand. We’re taking each game as it comes. We will prepare for Stevenage (at home on Saturday) like it’s the biggest game of the season.
“We have such a hectic schedule.
“We have Banksy (Scott Banks) coming in, young Charlie (Lennon) coming in. Both are going to be needed. We want to get our teeth into Stevenage.
“We need to get back to winning games, it’s as simple as that.”
Keillor-Dunn returned to the 11 after illness for Tuesday’s 4-0 loss at Cardiff City. The Reds barely touched the ball in the final half an hour.
“It’s frustrating for me.
“I want to go and press the ball and get after it, but at that point of 4-0, it’s sort of damage limitation.
“You don’t want any more going in your goal, so you’ve got to sort of take your medicine and press when you can press and don’t do needless running.
“So it was just really frustrating for me leading the line.”
Keillor-Dunn said sorry to the visiting fans. He said: “From the dressing room, the players, the staff, we just apologise to the fans. They’ve made a tremendous effort to come down to Cardiff on a Tuesday night and to get beaten in the manner we did with poor goals, we just apologise and luckily there’s a game on Saturday to go and put it right.”
Keillor-Dunn said no one saw the 4-0 loss coming. He said: “We’ve been in a really good place.
“Spirits have been so high and it’s been a massive shock that nobody in the dressing room was expecting.
“It’s just a tough pill to swallow.
“As crazy as it sounds, we know exactly where we’ve gone wrong.
“So it’s not one of those where we’re sort of scratching our head. We know exactly what’s gone on out there and the manager’s made it clear.
“We’re very, very lucky here at Barnsley to have such a close-knit group and every single player in there is willing to learn and listen and that’ll take us a long, long way. We’ve got a coach who’s got so many ideas that he wants to bring to fruition.”
