Following the Reds’ 6-1 rout over Rochdale, Head Coach Lee Johnson spoke to the media about his side’s superb performance.
The win is Barnsley’s fourth league win in succession and moved them five points clear of the relegation zone.
Johnson praised his side for the performance they put in and for not letting up, with particular praise going to hat-trick hero Sam Winnall.
“The feeling is one of pure elation,” said Johnson. “I’m delighted for everybody, especially the lads, we scored goals and Sam’s got his hat-trick and everybody’s in form.
“I’m delighted for the fans because it’s nice to put on a good show at home and I’m thrilled for the staff because it was always going to be a tough game.
“Once we scored the third it always looked like we were going to produce a rout, we’ve done that and given the fans something to buzz about for the next few days.
“Today was good all round and it has been a perfect day.”
A sweet performance was made even better for the Head Coach by the way in which his side applied themselves in order to take the three points, especially against a well-drilled Rochdale side.
He said: “The sweetness for me is the three points and we’ve got that today. We put in a good performance and took our chances today and we were reasonably solid.
“I was disappointed with our goal but you can’t have many complaints when we have performed like that against a really good side.
“The fans come to see their team win and the sparkle at the end was the last two or three goals but it was a great day all round.
“They’ll go home tonight and enjoy their evening knowing that it was an outstanding day to be here.”
The Head Coach praised striker Sam Winnall for completing his perfect hat-trick and also extended his congratulations to Ashley Fletcher for the difference he made from the bench.
Johnson added: “Sam’s goals were outstanding finishes, set up well for him by the way, Ashley Fletcher did very well when he came on and he’s provided me with some real team selection headaches.
“Funnily enough, I didn’t think he had a great first 20 minutes, his touch wasn’t as good as normal but as soon as he scored I thought he was excellent.”
Johnson also confirmed the extent of the injury to Aidan White, but was thrilled by the fans’ reaction to Josh Scowen’s return to action after a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
“Aidy White is probably going to be out for two to four weeks, he’s had an injection in his pubis area to settle inflammation that’s caused him some real problems.
“As for Josh, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as he got that cheer coming back onto the field.
“Nobody likes to see a football player get injured, especially not one as good as Josh and I asked him on Friday if he’d be alright for the bench and he said 100%.
“It was nice for him to get the cheer and get back on the pitch and get some minutes,” he said.
The Head Coach also looked ahead to a match with Yorkshire rivals Bradford City, which could move the Reds further away from relegation and closer to the play-offs.
“Now it’s about making sure we don’t get complacent with a young group. I don’t think they will get like that but they’re still hurting a little bit from earlier in the season but we have turned our form around.
“There is a lot of love back in the room which is nice to see, but we’ll keep on building and our next building block is Bradford on Tuesday.
“If we can go there and put in a sound defensive performance, we have players upfront who can score goals and that’s huge,” added Johnson.
