Alex Mowatt believes confidence is sky high as Barnsley head into their top-of-the-table clash with Portsmouth on Saturday.
The Reds are looking to go 14 Sky Bet League One games unbeaten when they travel to Fratton Park against the side where this incredible run of form started back in December.
“I think the team are massively confident in every game that we play at the moment,” said Mowatt.“We’ve gone on a great run, so why would we not be confident? We’re confident in every game and we’re in the top two so we want to keep pushing on.
“The gaffer’s mentality is to win every single game and he doesn’t want to sit back on a 1-0 either – he wants to go 2-0, 3-0. With his mentality, all the lads want to win every game and I think we need to to get out of this division.”
Barnsley head to the south coast on the back of a 0-0 draw at home to Burton Albion on Tuesday evening, which added another valuable point to the tally this campaign.
However, despite not picking up all three points against the Brewers, Mowatt insists that the Reds learn from each game as to how they can improve next time out.
“I thought it was a tough game, we couldn’t break them down; they just sat behind the ball and made it difficult for us,” continued the 24-year-old. “In midfield, they were man marking and we didn’t have any time on the ball to go forward, so I thought it was difficult. But we have to be able to break teams down when they do that and come up with some different ideas.
“Wycombe did it away and we struggled against them but, when they came here, they did the same and we found a way to win so it’s just about finding a way to win against teams that decide to do that.”
Portsmouth have suffered a dip in form and have failed to win any of their last seven league outings since a 2-1 victory over AFC Wimbledon on New Year’s Day.
But Mowatt is wary of a potential backlash against a side that had led the way for so long this season as they, too, aim to secure promotion to the second tier.
“It could be a bad thing – them wanting to bounce back,” said the midfielder. “You could look at it either way, but we know it’ll be difficult there with the crowd but we’ll be looking to go there and win.
“We’ve got some really good games coming up and everyone will be buzzing to play in them, so I think it’s a great test for us and, if we get some good results, we could be right up there.”
You can watch Alex’ full press conference on iFollow Barnsley.
