The Reds will aim to make it two home wins in five days when they welcome Queens Park Rangers to Oakwell tonight.
Following two defeats, Paul Heckingbottom’s side picked up their first win of the campaign on Saturday after Scott Carson’s own goal and an Alfie Mawson header secured a 2-0 success.
The victory lifted Barnsley into 16th place in the Championship and with a big derby clash against Huddersfield to come on Saturday, they will be eager to build even more momentum this evening.
Visitors QPR go into the game on the back of three wins out of three in what is Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s first full season in charge.
The R’s followed up their opening day win against Leeds, with a 2-0 success at Cardiff on Sunday and after beating Swindon in the EFL Cup first round it has been a positive start for Hasselbaink and his side.
The former Chelsea striker was appointed as the R’s boss in December after making the switch from Burton Albion and the QPR faithful will be eager to improve on last season’s 12th place finish this time around.
Previous Meetings
The Reds will be looking to put an end to their six match losing streak against QPR this evening.
Barnsley’s last win in this fixture came back in February 2009 when goals from Daniel Bogdanovic and Anderson de Silva earned them a 2-1 home win.
Since then however, QPR have won all six meetings; the most recent of which came in the 2013-14 campaign.
A Charlie Austin double earned Harry Redknapp’s side all three points at Loftus Road, while seven months later and Austin was on the scoresheet again, but this time at Oakwell, as the R’s won 3-2 in South Yorkshire.
That moved the London based club onto 26 wins in this fixture which leaves them 12 ahead of Barnsley, who trail behind with 14.
Team News
Paul Heckingbottom could name an unchanged line-up for this evening’s visit of Queens Park Rangers.
That would see Marley Watkins continue to partner Tom Bradshaw in attack, while James Bree could start again at right-back.
If the Barnsley Head Coach does opt to make changes however, new signing Sessi D’Almeida is pushing to make his first start for the Club, while Stefan Payne will be hoping for more minutes after coming on as a substitute on Saturday.
For visitors QPR, new signing Yeni Ngbakoto will be hoping to make his first start for them.
The French forward joined from Metz earlier this month and has so far made just two substitute appearances for the R’s.
Elsewhere, defender Joel Lynch is a doubt due to an abdominal problem, while summer recruit Ariel Borysiuk remains out with an ankle injury.
Man in the Middle
Darren Bond will take charge of Barnsley for the fifth time tonight. Last season he was the man in the middle as the Reds won 4-1 at home to Swindon in September, while he also oversaw the Club’s 2-1 defeat at Gillingham in February.
Before last season, he had taken charge of two draws for the Reds against Ipswich and Fleetwood; both of which came in 2014.
The official – who will be assisted by linesmen David Avent and Mark Jones, as well as fourth official David Coote tonight – has never taken charge of a QPR game however, but was in charge of Blackpool’s 4-2 EFL Cup success against Bolton last week.
Their Star Man
Following a fine 2014-15 season in which playmaker Tjaronn Chery netted 15 times in 36 appearances for FC Groningen, the former FC Twente man joined QPR for an undisclosed fee on a three-year contract last June.
The versatile forward may have suffered a 2-0 defeat on his debut against Charlton but it took him just four games to register for his new club; bagging a brace against Rotherham in a 4-2 home win.
They were just two of four goals which Chery scored in his first 27 appearances for the club but after a 16 match goalless spell, he burst into life in February, hitting six goals in nine games including strikes in wins against Birmingham, Derby and Brentford.
That saw the ex-ADO Den Haag man end his first campaign in English football with 10 goals and after chipping in with four assists as well, the 28-year-old proved a bright spark in what was otherwise a disappointing season.
Following those fine displays, Chery remains a key part of manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s side this term and he already has two goals to his name; bagging in the club’s wins against both Leeds and Cardiff last week.
Playing as the link man between midfield and attack, the R’s joint top goal scorer from last season has both the ability and experience to be one of the stars of the Championship this term.
Mutual Man
Last summer versatile defender Martin Cranie penned a one-year contract at Huddersfield Town following a successful trial with the club. The 29-year-old arrived at the John Smith’s Stadium after a three-year spell with Barnsley.
The former England U21 international arrived at Oakwell from Coventry and made his debut for the Reds in a 3-1 Championship defeat at Wolves. It was the first of 122 appearances which Cranie would go onto make over three campaigns in South Yorkshire; netting one goal in the process.
That sole strike came in his third and final season with the Tykes, as he struck the winner in Barnsley’s 2-1 victory at Crewe in August 2014. That came following Cranie’s most difficult spell at the Club as he was unable to help the Reds survive relegation from the Championship.
The Yeovil-born defender did remain a first team regular at Oakwell however but he moved on for pastures new at the beginning of last season after his Barnsley contract came to an end.
Huddersfield became the ninth Club of Cranie’s career, with tonight’s opponents QPR counting amongst his previous employers. The Southampton youth product only spent a short spell at Loftus Road however, joining them on loan from Portsmouth in October 2007.
The tough-tackling centre-half – who signed a new one-year deal with Huddersfield in May - did enjoy a successful period in London however, starting six games with the Club and helping them to keep four clean sheets. Three of those games also ended in wins for the R’s as they would ultimately end the campaign in 14th place.
Form Guide
Barnsley’s last five at home: (WDWLW)
Barnsley 1-0 Peterborough United
Barnsley 2-2 Colchester United
Barnsley 3-0 Walsall
Barnsley 1-2 Northampton (EFL)
Barnsley 2-0 Derby County
QPR’s last five away from home: (DDLLW)
Leeds United 1-1 QPR
Cardiff City 0-0 QPR
Brighton 4-0 QPR
Burnley 1-0 QPR
Cardiff 0-2 QPR
