PATRICK Kelly admits getting more goals and assists will ‘complete my game’ but believes that will come in time.
The 21-year-old Northern Ireland international has been a revelation in the Barnsley midfield this season, impressing with his ability to run with the ball into attacking areas.
He so far has three goals and three assists in all competitions and wants to improve on those numbers.
Kelly says he is having ‘loads of conversations’ with Conor Hourihane and his coaching staff about adding ‘that little bit of quality.’
He admits it has been difficult to work on that in training during a busy run of fixtures.
Kelly told the Chronicle: “The more experienced I get the more I will get in the right areas. I’m just working on it.
“We haven’t had loads of time on the training pitch because obviously any sessions we have had have normally have been ‘matchday minus one sessions’ which are a bit more tactical and your workload’s a bit down if you’ve had a game a day or two before.
“I think the pitches here haven’t really been kind to us since Christmas as well so we’ve been struggling a bit with training but it’s just about games and just being ready for the matches when they come.”
Kelly was in and out of the side at loan club Doncaster last season so this is the first really intense run of games in his senior career.
He said: “It’s tough but it’s really enjoyable.
“There’s nothing better than playing games so there’s no point complaining about a tough schedule because every footballer wants to play matches.
“Obviously there’s times you’re a bit tired after games the next day or the day after and it’s a bit tough mentally to just switch back on and go again straight away.
“But I’ve been really enjoying it and I think we’ve got a really good group and everyone’s working really hard with each other.
“I think we just need to keep picking up wins and I think we’ll be in a really good place.”
Barnsley’s win over Peterborough on Tuesday was their eighth at home in the league this season, leaving them unbeaten in five at Oakwell in 2026.
Kelly said: “Since I joined, I feel like every home game I’ve played we’ve been the better team, maybe apart from Lincoln when I still thought we were OK at times.
“We look really confident and full of energy and I feel like we’re always taking the game to the other teams and I feel like we always start well.
“It’s really good that we’ve got good home form.
“We just need to probably pick up the away form.
“Huddersfield would be a great place to go and do it.”
The Reds visit the sixth-placed Terriers on Saturday.
Kelly said: “After the Peterborough game, the manager said Huddersfield had lost and we’re just going to go and take the game to them.
“It won’t be a case of going there and sitting off them or anything just because they’re higher up in the league than us.
“So we’ll be going there and try and take all three points and I think we played them off the pitch here at the start of the season so there’s no reason we can’t do that again.”
