HAT-TRICK HERO Sam Winnall spoke to the press after a memorable match at Oakwell, which saw the Reds run out 6-1 winners over Rochdale.
A perfect hat-trick for Winnall was the highlight of an impressive performance, and the Reds forward gave his thoughts about that.
“It’s a match that will live long in my memory.” Said Winnall. “It will be hard to top the feeling of scoring that third goal and getting the win like that.
“It’s so rare to get a left, right foot and a header all in one game. I was so chuffed, it was a great day for myself and my family.
“We thoroughly deserved it as a team and we played really well. We looked really dangerous and I am delighted for everyone involved with Barnsley Football Club at the moment.”
The Reds were leading 1-0 at half-time and Rochdale came close to equalising as the score was 2-1, but Winnall felt the Reds were always in the ascendency.
“We felt we were controlling the game till they scored.” Winnall explained. ”They nicked the goal from a corner and we had a shaky five minutes but I scored to make it 3-1 and the game died after that as we were given so
much space to exploit, and we did.
“It was nice for us to be ruthless. We could have sat back and been happy with 3-1 but we didn’t want that, we wanted another three goals and that’s a sign of a good team. I’m delighted.”
Winnall has scored eight goals in his last four games and the in-form striker was asked how he has achieved such impressive figures.
“That’s just football!” Quipped Winnall. “It’s the life of a striker! I went eight games without a goal earlier in the season and now I’ve got eight in four. You’ve got to get used to it. I’ve had hot streaks and barren spells all my life, it’s all about staying confident through both.”
With other team-mates also scoring goals in recent weeks, Winnall was quick to praise the whole squad and realised his goals were from everyone’s hard work.
“I was especially delighted for Marley (Watkins) today.” Said Winnall. “He does a lot of running and works so hard, creating space for players like to me so I was delighted for him to get on the score-sheet today. It was great for
Alfie (Mawson) as well and for Longy (Kevin Long) to get his first goal at Oakwell, especially in front of the ‘Ponty End.’ There are so many positives, it’s just a very very good night at the office.
“I think we’re a very level headed bunch of lads and we won’t get too carried away. Why not make it five wins on the bounce on Tuesday? That’s the way we’ll keep looking.
“We know how important every game is, especially at this point of the season, it can define us for the next few months and we need to go into every game thinking we can win.”
