Caretaker Head Coach Paul Heckingbottom spoke to the press after a deserved derby-day win for the Reds.
Ashley Fletcher’s late winner was enough to get the three points and give Barnsley their fifth straight League One home victory and Heckingbottom gave his thoughts.
“I thought we should have been in front at half-time!” Said Heckingbottom. “We didn’t show the quality we’ve got in the final third today. We got in good positions and didn’t make the most of them so we needed to be more clinical so we had to wait to get the winner.
“You’ve got to be positive and I felt the goal was coming. We were the home team and we were on top, I tried to stress that to the players and the subs I made were all about being positive.
“Sometimes you have to be happy with a point but we felt we were in the ascendency and had to push for the winner, and luckily we got it.”
On-loan Manchester United striker Ashley Fletcher scored his first ever career league goal to give the Reds the win and delighted the home crowd.
“Fletch has done terrific.” Heckingbottom said. “I’ve been working really hard with him, he’s done extra work after training so the next time he gets his start he can have an impact from minute one.
“He doesn’t have to worry about lasting 90 minutes he can be brilliant for 60, then we can change it again. We’ve got good players in this squad to come on and make a difference.
“He’s pushing for a start, he keeps making an impact, he keeps backing himself and he believes he needs to start and he’s showing it by scoring goals.”
The Reds have now won nine games in their last 11 in League One, including five wins in a row at Oakwell.
“It’s all about winning.” Heckingbottom stated. “It’s something I tried to stress to the younger players when I worked with them, you have to know how to win games.
“On the back of that we were more than a match to Gillingham, the performances have been excellent and we can control the performances, not always the outcome.”
Heckingbottom’s final words were to the Oakwell fans, and he wanted to praise his players for giving the fans what they deserved.
“The fans are coming down and the team is reflecting what they want at the minute. The lads are working hard, pressing and giving value for money. We’re creating opportunities and keeping clean sheets, things are going well.”
