Reds Coach Adam Murray spoke to the press ahead of Sunday's final home game of the 2019/20 season.
It's been an absolute slog of a campaign for the Reds but as we enter the home straight, Adam Murray reflected on the positives going into a pivotal weekend for the club's future.
Having worked with Reds' Head Coach, Gerhard Struber for around eight months now, Murray told us he's been impressed with the Austrian's methods and looks back at what was a really tough start to this elongated season.
“The first few months of the season were a massive learning curve for eveybody and probably punched us in the face before we even saw it coming." He explained ahead of the visit of playoff-bound Nottingham Forest.
“Gerhard has been brilliant to work with, he's put a lot of detail in and we have seen the results. It's not just the press, he's really helped in terms of the positioning of players within a system. He's a real professional and I'm enjoying working with him.
"If we still had months left in the season, we would be in a very good position. It is frustrating because we know where we could be. But it is what it is.
“When you work day to day with him you see the amount of work that goes in. If we had said after Preston away that we would still be fighting going into the last week of the season, we would have taken it wouldn't we?
“After the growth in the last few months, it is bewildering to see where we are but goals win you games and we've not been good enough, in both 18 yard boxes if we're being honest.”
With only four goals scored since the restart, it's clear for all to see where the Reds' current weakness is.
Again in midweek at now-promoted Leeds United, it was profligacy in front of goal that saw Barnsley leave empty-handed.
Murray says it's too easy to point to the frontmen..
“At the moment they are not firing," he admitted. "But that is just the way football goes. It's come at the wrong time for us but we have good players in those positions. If you look back towards Christmas they were the reason we are still in the fight. You can't have it both ways.
“The big story of the season and the main headline is the chances that we've missed. We missed a gilt-edged chance at Leeds then a minute later we were 1-0 down.”
Despite the long odds on offer now, the Assistant Coach remains convinced that Barnsley can win their final two games of the season and stay up.
He said: “There isn’t a thought in our mind that this is over. We represent a town that is hard-working, grasps for everything that it gets and is very passionate. We may have fallen short in some aspects over the season but we have never, ever fallen short in terms of our fight and desire.
“In hindsight, when we all look back, there probably are things we could have tweaked or changed. But there are a lot of positives too. If we could take a step back and do some things diferently, we probably would.
"But we are where we are and all we can do now is give it everything Sunday and hope we are still in there with a chance on the last day.”