Barnsley U23s host Colchester United on Friday afternoon at the Oakwell Training Ground looking to secure successive Professional Development League wins.
The young Reds were in exceptional form in their last outing as they comfortably brushed Crystal Palace aside 3-0, courtesy of two goals from Elliot Simoes and Chris Sang’s first of the campaign.
Midfielder Alex Wollerton is keen for his team to kick on and pick up three points against the U’s, who have amassed just one point in their first four games.
“We had a really positive result against Crystal Palace; the boys are looking to build on that and, hopefully, we can get our first back-to-back wins of the season,” said the 19-year-old.
“I thought we did really well against Coventry City – we were just unlucky not to start the season by getting off the mark, but the performances against Palace and Cardiff City were really good.
“We came up against a very strong Bristol City side where we didn’t perhaps give as good an account of ourselves as we could, but, overall, we’ve put our performances from training into games.”
Barnsley ran out 4-0 winners against Colchester at the JobServe Community Stadium last season, with Amir Berkovits, a double from Sam Fielding and one more from Sang ensuring the Reds returned to South Yorkshire with all three points.
Wollerton was on trial back then, but showed enough quality during his spell and in pre-season to earn a contract at Oakwell ahead of the 2019/20 campaign.
“I came in last season and that was my second game for the club and I thought going to Colchester and putting in that sort of performance and scoring the goals we did was perfect on the day,” continued the midfielder. “Hopefully we can replicate that again.
“We can’t take anything for granted; we still need to build on our results and we won’t be taking anything lightly. We need to be confident and believe we can get the three points.”
Friday marks a return to Oakwell for Jamal Campbell-Ryce, who is currently the U’s U23s coach.
The former Reds’ winger spent time on loan at Colchester in 2006 and was appointed in his new coaching role last month.
However, he will be facing a Barnsley side who are unbeaten at home since October and full of confidence following a productive start to the campaign.
“I think the lads from last season have built on that form going into this year – I don’t think we’ve lost at home for quite a while now and, hopefully, if we can keep building on it, we can make it a fortress at home,” insisted Wollerton.
You can find out how our U23s fare by attending the game for FREE at the Oakwell Training Ground, kick-off at 2pm.
Alternatively, you can follow updates on our official Academy Twitter account: @AcademyBFC.
Any supporters wishing to attend this game are politely reminded not to park on Grove Street, but to park in the CK Beckett South Stand car park.
