Conor Hourihane says his Barnsley players have been ‘first class’ this week after following up a win over Exeter on Saturday with a draw at home to second-placed Cardiff City on Tuesday.

The visitors took an early lead but Scott Banks levelled.

The Reds bounced back from a disappointing loss to Wycombe last Tuesday with a win over Exeter then this point.

Hourihane said: “I think the biggest thing is from the Wycombe game, we did a lot of work on how we wanted to get better and improve.

“And I think the last two games, in a short space of time, I think the lads have been first class. They put a winning performance on against Exeter. They come here not fancied, and they're putting in a performance like that.

“We had to change the press a little bit after 15 minutes or so.

“They were getting out way too easily, so we added another body to the press and pushed Didzy (David McGoldrick) forward with Tom Bradshaw, and I felt that put a lot more pressure on him. I thought the way we finished the first half, there was only one team going to go on and get another goal. And probably half-time came at a little bit of a bad moment for us.”

Barnsley had to soak up a lot of pressure in the second half. Hourihane said: “I think we've done that now over the last kind of couple of games.

“And the lads have done great. Credit to them.

“The work that we've done over the last week since Wycombe, a lot of it's been in a classroom, obviously, because we've not had loads of time on the grass. They've taken everything on board, and they've been first class.

“So if we continue like that, we'll give ourselves every chance to pick up as many points as possible. Hopefully, that will be the case now heading into this week.”

In-form striker David McGoldrick missed two good chances to put Barnsley ahead.

“It's just one of them. He's been in red-hot form, and he'll be a little bit disappointed with that, and I know he will.

“And even though they had lots of territory and a lot of the ball, even in the second half, I still felt that we carved out one or two opportunities at certain stages that I felt like were decent chances. Didzy’s been first class, as everyone knows, for a good amount of time now. He'll just brush that off. And the way he worked for the team and his energy up the top of the pitch, and we were clearing the ball long at times because we were suffering, and he was chasing it down and getting there at times.”

Hourihane praised Vimal Yoganathan and Mael de Gevigney.

“Vim has put in two top performances over the last couple of games since coming back in the team. Really, really impressive.

“Mal was outstanding. Some of his clearances that he was doing were incredible, really, to be honest. And I think over the last kind few games, I know we've had no clean sheet, but we're not going back to the twos and threes conceding.

“I feel like we look a lot more solid, and we give ourselves every chance at the minute to pick up points, whoever we play.”

Hourihane dropped Reyes Cleary and Adam Phillips to the bench. Asked if that was to rest them, he said: “There was a little bit with Reyes, I’ve got to be honest. I think I was always going to take him out of a game.

“And he's been doing OK, but I've said to him recently: ‘I still want more. I want more from you.’ I think he's not been at his firing best, but you see glimpses of assists still going in.

“So he's such a big threat for us, but I still want more. So I thought tonight was a good breather for him.

“I still want more from Phillo. I'm always pushing him for more. I always want more.In my opinion, when he has his mindset on doing everything right constantly, he's one of the best players in the league. And for me, he just needs to become that little bit more consistent. And he's not young. And I've said this to him.

“I still want more from him all the time, and that's my job to keep pushing.”