Barnsley U23s are looking to bounce back when they travel to Nottingham Forest in the Professional Development League.
The young Reds suffered a 4-1 defeat at home to Wigan Athletic last week in an out of character performance, but Sam Fielding insists his side are aiming to put that behind them.
“We’ve watched the analysis of the game and it’s obviously disappointing, but we need to get over it because we’ve got a hard game against Forest and we know they’re a good team,” said the defender.
“It was frustrating last week because it was a few mistakes that cost us and we had a few chances that we could have put away, but it wasn’t our day and we need to look ahead to Forest and putting it right.”
Forest maintained their strong start to the season with a hard-fought 1-1 draw away to Burnley on Monday, coming from behind to snatch a point late on.
Jimmy Gilligan’s youngsters currently lead the way after six games and are continuing their fine form from the 2018/19 campaign where they lost just one of their last 11 games.
“They tend to do well; they’ve got good players,” continued Fielding. “I saw the other night that a few of them played for the first team against Arsenal so we’re expecting a tough game.
“From previous games that we’ve played against them, we know that they’ve got good wingers and attackers – they’re very fast out wide – so we need to watch out for the pace and be wary of that.”
There will be a familiar face lining up against Barnsley at the Wilford Lane Training Ground on Friday afternoon.
Martin Devaney’s side know all about Louis Walsh, who joined Forest this summer after leaving Oakwell and Fielding admits that a few pleasantries have been exchanged in the lead up to the game.
“We know what he’s like; he likes to get down the line and do his thing – we know he’s fast as well, so we’re aware of that,” said the U23s captain. “We’ve had a bit of friendly banter, but nothing too serious.”
You can find out how our U23s fare by attending the game at the Wilford Lane Training Ground, kick-off at 1pm.
Alternatively, you can follow updates on our official Academy Twitter account: @AcademyBFC.
Wilford Lane Training Ground
Wilford Lane
West Bridgford
Nottingham
East Midlands
NG2 7QY