Lee Johnson spoke to the press ahead of this weekend’s trip to Swindon Town.
The Reds are currently on a five-match winning streak in the league after Tuesday night’s 1-0 victory away at Bradford City.
Head Coach Lee Johnson started by confirming team news ahead of the game and the injury concerns his side faced ahead of the trip.
Johnson said, “Aidy White has had an injection and could be anywhere from one to three weeks away depending on how it settles. Adam Hammill is obviously out with his knee but he’s convinced himself he’ll be back quicker than the medics say. Lewin Nyatanga is nearing a return but Ryan Williams is also injured again.
“No news on Alfie Mawson yet, now is the time we’ll be assessing him. Sometimes with groins they can be long-term, but they can also just be little pockets of gas and he might be all right. The next couple of days is key. I don’t know if he’ll make Saturday.”
After a hard-fought win on Tuesday night against Bradford, Johnson reflected on seeing his side grind out a win and keep a clean sheet, which was very different to the previous match against Rochdale.
“It was a different type of win for us and it was a difficult place to go.” Explained Johnson. “I’ve watched it back (Bradford game) for the second time and it was better than I thought, I was probably too critical on our quality after the game.
“What we did well was get back into key areas quickly, and when you do that you’re going to be difficult to beat. We’ve now got a group who can do that.”
Looking ahead, the Reds now sit just seven points off the play-off places and Johnson was asked how the season has turned around following the rough patch earlier in the campaign, and how his side can keep this form up towards the end of the season.
“I think the back four is a big thing.” Johnson said. “Our lines are better and they’re staying connected which is important. We need to be lucky with injuries as we’ve already got four or five to key players.
“We need to make sure we get our underbelly used to the squad to go into the first team, just like George Williams. I don’t think there will be any problem with keeping the lads grounded. I can tell the characters they are, they’re all good kids.
“They haven’t got it in them to be too big for their boots and if they did we’d jump down on them. I think now in the group we’ve got lads that if they recognised it they would pull them up.
“We’d like to bring one or two in, there’s three areas we could do with improving on. We’ve got important games coming up so anyone who comes in has got to be fit.
“With 19 games to go a lot can happen! I think the lads have earned some praise and the spirit has always been there even when we were on a poor run. We have to keep going and go into the Swindon game, not thinking about Thursday, that if we win we get closer to the play-offs.
“We have to play every team again which changes the dynamic as they become mini six-pointers. What we’ve done is kept our season alive in two competitions now, both the league and the JPT.”
Watch Lee Johnson's pre-match press conference in full on Barnsley PlayerHD.
