BARNSLEY are due to play their final two away games of the season this week when they visit promotion-chasing Luton Town on Saturday then relegated Northampton Town on Tuesday.
The Hatters are seventh in League One, three points off the top six and 12 clear of the 13th-placed Reds.
They are unbeaten in nine league games with six wins while they also won the EFL Trophy at Wembley earlier this month with a victory over Stockport.
They drew 2-2 at Mansfield on Saturday – coming from 2-0 down after a brace by Barnsley loanee Jon Russell -– then won 2-0 at relegated Rotherham on Tuesday. Luton had suffered two successive relegations having been in the Premier League in the 2023/24 season.
They were one of the favourites for promotion, with £39million parachute payments, but had been in mid-table for much of the season. They sacked Matt Bloomfield in October and replaced him with former Arsenal and England midfielder Jack Wilshere who picked up 32 points from his first 24 games before this current good run.
Since losing his first home game to Mansfield, Wilshere’s team have only lost one of 16 league games at Kenilworth Road – winning nine.
Barnsley head coach Conor Hourihane told the Chronicle: “They are a really good side with a good young manager.
“I have a lot of respect for Jack as a player and now as a coach. He had a little bit of a difficult start, but he’s definitely turned it around and got a really good atmosphere going there.
“They’re playing some good stuff at the minute with some really good results.
“Full credit to him really for turning them into the side that they are and the run that they’re on.
“It’s going to be a really tough game, but if we can perform to our high levels, I feel like we’re a match for many teams in this league.”
He added: “They’re going for the play-offs. It’s their last home league game, so we expect a proper atmosphere with a proper performance from both sides and it’s geared up for a really good game.
“To play teams that have got really something to fight for when you’re mid-table at times can be difficult, but it can also give us that freedom to go and perform well.
“It wasn’t to be against Stevenage, but we need to try and really improve on the performance.”
The Reds have won five of 21 away games and have 23 points.
Hourihane said: “No matter if it’s a local derby and they’re only travelling down the road or long journeys, we always want to put on good performances from the away fans.
“Sometimes it’s been really good for them in terms of their journeys back. Sometimes it’s been really poor, so it’s been inconsistent in the main
“There’s two away games to go.
“They travel here, far and everywhere and they spend their hard-earned money going on the road to support their club.
“I fully admire them for that.
“And it would be my hope that, myself, the coach, the staff and the lads, turn up for the next couple of away games to give them something to shout about.”
Luton have several ex-Reds.
Mads Andersen played 175 games for Barnsley between 2019 and 2023, the most of any non-British or Irish player in the club’s history, then moved to Luton in a multi-million deal when they were in the top flight.
He has had an injury-plagued spell with the Hatters but has played the majority of games this season.
He came off at half-time on Saturday due to tiredness after a previous injury and did not feature in midweek.
Jordan Clark, from Hoyland, came through the Oakwell youth system and played seven first team games before being released in 2014.
After spells at Shrewsbury and Accrington, the 32-year-old is in sixth season with Luton for whom he is the top-scorer this season with 11 goals.
He has missed both games this week with a calf problem.
Striker Devante Cole, who left Barnsley in 2024 having scored 43 goals in two spells, joined the Hatters in January from Port Vale and has not scored in 13 games.
Barnsley thrashed Luton 5-0 in November, their only home clean sheet of the season, thanks to goals by Reyes Cleary, Patrick Kelly, Luca Connell, Tennai Watson and Davis Keillor-Dunn.
Hourihane said: “We had obviously a really good day that day and everything kind of clicked for us.
“They’re in a different moment, they’re obviously in a good place since the last block of games and they’ve obviously won at Wembley as well.
“We know that it’s going to be a different challenge compared to what we faced when we beat them here.”
Their last trip to the Bedfordshire club was in February 2022 when they lost 2-1 with a goal by Carlton Morris.
That ended a run of seven unbeaten trips to Kenilworth Road, with five wins, since 1998. The clubs have met 66 times, with Barnsley winning 29 and losing 27.
