The young Reds defender was in an upbeat and confident mood when he helped us preview the Royals clash in today's pre-match press conference.
The Reds are back in Sky Bet Championship action this Friday evening in a 5.30pm kick-off, live on Sky Sports Football.
With Reading our closest challengers in the standings right now, their visit to Oakwell will be seen by some as pivotal in terms of where this 20/21 season is heading for both sides.
Ahead of the 5th vs 6th meeting, Toby Sibbick met with the press via Zoom and admitted the international break had come at a favourable time for Barnsley.
“I think it did.” The 21-year-old explained.
“Against Sheffield Wednesday in our last game, our intensity was lacking a little I think because of the schedule we had. But we feel refreshed now.
“The boys are in a good mood in camp right now. Training has been good. We are all confident of getting on another good run and finishing the season well, starting Friday night against Reading.”
Not every member of Valérien Ismaël’s squad have had the opportunity to catch their breath however, with Daryl Dike and Michał Helik representing the United States and Poland respectively over the last week.
For Sibbick and the rest of the players, seeing their teammates playing for their countries is something to be proud of, but also something to aim for on their own terms.
Toby told us: “To see Michał on the TV playing against world class players is an inspiration to all of us, that we can strive for the same things.
“We have put ourselves in this position, in the spotlight and it’s great to see players like Michał and Dike go and do their thing on such a big stage.
“We all dream of playing as high up as possible, we are young, hungry players and there’s that desire amongst the group to keep bettering ourselves.”
When looking ahead to Friday evening’s game with Reading, our now dreadlock-free defender spoke with confidence, but also with respect for the opposition.
He feels the Reds have already proven they can compete with the division’s so-called leading outfits and is enthusiastic at the challenge ahead of them at Oakwell tomorrow.
“We take it one game at a time. We have a big game tomorrow and if we win that we put some more distance between them and anyone else chasing.
“They have a lot of talent but we have stopped teams like that before so we have nothing to fear from them or anyone else.
“We’re excited to get out there and show what we can do.”
