A delighted Tom Bradshaw spoke to the press after playing a pivotal role in the Reds 3-0 victory away at Birmingham City.
The Reds forward covered every blade of grass at St Andrews, chasing down every lost ball and winning vital headers, as well as linking up play to help his teammates into goal-scoring positions.
Tom said, “I think we stuck to the game-plan perfectly, all the lads put in a great shift and on the ball we were tidy. Like I said, we stuck to the game-plan and we knew if we did that then we had every chance of winning the game.
“We just wanted to do what we’re good at! I think we went away from what we do well against Forest, we didn’t do the basics well. We look to press teams early and win the ball back in their half which I felt we did brilliantly today. I think every one of our players on the pitch put in a shift.”
The Reds have now secured three clean sheets in a row away from home and Bradshsaw feels that even though it’s a young squad out there, the character has helped them through.
“We’ve got a lot of character in the dressing room and even though we’re quite a young squad there is a lot of experience in there. I think that showed today, we controlled the game after the first goal and never really gave them a sniff.”
All three of the goals the Reds scored today were headers, which Bradshaw believes is no fluke after the work they put in.
“We put a lot of emphasis on scoring from set-plays and making the most of them because for a lot of teams in this division, that’s how they win games on one set-play. We put a lot of emphasis on that in training and it’s good to see it has paid off.”
Bradshaw has had to bide his time on the side-lines recently, but came back into the starting 11 today with an excellent performance. He then stated that Reds Head Coach Paul Heckingbottom has been trying to get a different message across to the squad all this week.
“I think we’re a talented squad and there are a lot of very good players not only in the 18, but there’s a lot who are very good players so obviously it’s competitive to get a starting place, but I’m over the moon to get that place and get the win today.
“We’ve had some good performances but not necessarily got the three points. The Gaffer has said all week that sometimes you’ve got to ‘win ugly’, it’s the three points that are important, not necessarily always how you play.”
Bradshaw’s final message was for the superb number of fans that travelled down to Birmingham in support today.
“They’ve been brilliant all season. To get over 1,000 Barnsley fans coming down here shows what great fans we have and I’m delighted they are going home happy.”
Watch Tom Bradshaw's full reaction on Barnsley Player HD!
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