The Reds Head Coach addressed the media after another excellent performance under the lights of Oakwell!
Paul Heckingbottom said he would have been disappointed not to come away with at least a point after their 1-1 draw with Aston Villa.
Substitute Sam Winnall came off the bench to rescue a point for the Reds and prevent them slipping to a third EFL Sky Bet Championship defeat in succession.
‘Hecky’ felt that in an end-to-end game, the Reds displayed all the right qualities and came away with their just rewards.
He said: “We’d have been upset if we didn’t get anything from that but the pleasing thing for us is the performance, the energy and the pace that we played with.
“I think it made for a really good game. Neither team can be accused of not playing with energy or desire because it was an end-to-end game throughout.
“They had a spell before they scored where I thought we got a little bit open and they were using their pace and their power to cause problems.
“More often than not we were getting back and dealing with it but we did get a little bit stretched and when we did make the subs, we had the ball higher up the pitch more often and had a foothold in the game again.”
Winnall’s goal was his second of the season and the 4,000th league goal that has been scored at Oakwell.
The Head Coach expressed his joy at Winnall scoring.
“I’m delighted for him,” he said. “He came on and did great linking the play, a role we asked him to do. We showed him clips of what it might look like and the space he might find.
“We had the changes in mind in terms of the shape and what we’d change to, it would have been nice for the game to have just been tight and us get the winner.
“We’re playing against some really good quality at the minute and we’re holding our own.”
Despite making changes to the starting line-up, Heckingbottom praised all members of the squad and feels they have to keep producing those sorts of team displays to accumulate points.
“That’s the name of the game, we need everyone fighting and pulling in the same direction because no one is going to do anything on their own.
“You’re only as good as some of your parts and at the moment, we’ve got some really good parts and everyone is pulling in the right direction, fighting and contributing.
“Once again, all 14 players who got on the grass have earned us a point.”
Saturday sees the Reds travel to Elland Road, an encounter that ‘Hecky’ has been relishing since the fixtures were released.
“It’s another massive game and one I’ve been looking forward to, Leeds away. I’ll be looking forward to it and once again, we’ll look at the squad and the players and decide the way forward.
“The game really jumped out for me because being from Royston, you’re either a Leeds fan or a Barnsley fan, so I grew up not liking Leeds,” he quipped.
View Paul Heckingbottom's full press conference on Barnsley Player HD!
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