Ethan Pinnock insists that Barnsley are looking for a reaction ahead of Saturday’s visit of Bristol Rovers.
The Reds are aiming to bounce back from Tuesday’s 3-1 defeat at Shrewsbury Town and put in a positive performance at Oakwell in front of the home faithful.
“We know that Tuesday night wasn’t good enough,” admitted Pinnock. “A lot of fans travelled down and spent their money, and we know that’s not an acceptable performance.
“We’re still really confident. The last two games haven’t been good enough and we know that; there will be a reaction on Saturday. The boys are all really disappointed with how we played.”
Rovers travel to South Yorkshire on the back of a 2-0 victory over AFC Wimbledon – their first Sky Bet League One win since 22 September.
However, the Pirates have won just once on the road this season – a 2-1 triumph at newly promoted Wycombe Wanderers back in August.
Darrell Clarke’s side currently sit 19th in the table and Pinnock believes three points this weekend is a must if Barnsley want to be considered as serious promotion contenders.
“We have the expectancy of ourselves,” continued the Reds’ defender. “We know what we want to achieve this season and, in order to do that, we need to be beating teams at the bottom and the teams around us.
“I think it comes from within the boys; we need to get each other ready, concentrate during the game, have more communication and push each other forward for the fans. Being back at home will help us with them behind us.”
Saturday’s meeting with Rovers is the first of five consecutive home games across three competitions for Barnsley as the campaign starts to gather momentum.
While it is too early to claim that this cluster of fixtures will be a season-defining period for the Reds, Pinnock insists the next couple of weeks are crucial in terms of his side regaining the impetus.
“It’s a huge part of the season now, especially coming off the back of two defeats; it’s very important,” said the 25-year-old. “We’re looking at these five games as a chance to re-establish ourselves and get back up and running again.
“There’s no easy games; every team is going to come out and prove that they can play against us because we’ve come down, but we need to be aware of that. We’re ready for the game on Saturday and looking forward to making things right again.”
You can watch Ethan's full press conference on iFollow Barnsley.
