FINISH WITH A FLOURISH
Barnsley challenged to meet top-10 goal to ensure progression continues
IF anyone thinks that Barnsley will be donning the flip-flops which opponents Wigan Athletic metaphorically wore in this same spring fixture last season, then they would perhaps be wise to reassess that stance.
For the second successive campaign, the DW Stadium stages a Roses occasion where one side’s need for victory is considerably greater than their opponents.
The consequences of defeat do not have to be spelled out to hosts Wigan this evening.
Seven points adrift of fourthfrom-bottom Bristol City and with a daunting end to the Championship season which incorporates trips to Brighton and Reading and an encounter with another promotion-chaser in Leeds, the struggling Latics face a game tonight which has ‘must win’ circled around it in red ink.
Their opponents will certainly empathise given the stakes which they faced when they last visited this particular corner of Lancashire on a climactic final day of last season.
Then, Barnsley, roared on by 4,500 visiting fans, held their nerve to comprehensively beat the Latics – who were in somewhat relaxed mode ahead of receiving the League One title following the game – to edge out Scunthorpe United for the final play-off spot on goal difference.
This time around, it is Barnsley who have achieved their season’s mission ahead of time, with Paul Heckingbottom’s side having mathematically confirmed their Championship status for another year with a month of the season to go after a 2-0 win at Blackburn.
Woe betide anyone who thinks that the 13th-placed Reds will be taking their foot off the pedal. They are not that sort of side and Heckingbottom is plainly not that sort of manager.
After confounding many experts this season, Barnsley are clearly intent on delivering a few more surprises as they strive to become standard-bearers by recording their highest league fin- ish since 1999-2000 and by a fair distance, too.
Defender Angus MacDonald said: “It is a great achievement to secure Championship football for next season for everyone at the club and for the fans to enjoy another big season next time.
“But we are definitely going to push for a top-10 finish now. People probably wrote us off at the start of the season and it is good to turn it around.
“The manager has been speaking about winning more games than we lose and having a positive goal difference and outcome and we are trying to do that now.
“Our drive will remain there until the ‘93rd minute’ at Newcastle at the end of the season. That’s when we can finally put our feet up and look towards next season.
“You cannot just turn up and play with more freedom because that is when you start losing games and getting turned over. Especially against teams like Bristol City and Wigan, who are fighting for their lives.”
MacDonald’s comments would certainly chime with a grounded manager in Heckingbottom, who has shown a clear abhorrence in the past for luxuriating in the glow of triumph.
For the Reds’ head coach instantly switches to the next challenge after a victory and while he will have afforded himself a moment of satisfaction when Barnsley secured their season’s mission with victory at Ewood Park, it will have been a fleeting one.
Heckingbottom said: “Back in July and August and even after we got the wins early on in the season, if someone had given us this (current) league table, everyone would have snapped their hands off, without a doubt.
“But it is just the first part of it and we have to get better and better. We know how hard it has been this season and we know we need to improve to have any chance of doing it next time.”
Standing still is also not in the mindset of his players, who may have surpassed expectations this season, but who also do not need to be reminded that they must do it all over again next term.
It has been a campaign when the likes of MacDonald and Andy Yiadom, plucked from comparative obscurity, have seen their stars shine alongside the likes of Marc Roberts, Marley Watkins, Adam Davies and Josh Scowen, with all having laid down a marker for next season in the process.
It remains to be seen if the likes of Watkins and Scowen, whose futures are uncertain with both yet to sign new contracts with their deals expiring in June, will stick around for the next chapter at Barnsley – but MacDonald is keeping his fingers crossed.
He added: “Now we have secured Championship football for next season, I don’t see why we cannot keep as many players as the club wants and see how high we can finish next season with the bond we have together.
“From Davo right through to the strikers, there is a real bond and passion for the team.”
We are definitely going to push for a top-10 finish now. Barnsley central defender Angus MacDonald