Paul Heckingbottom hopeful Barnsley can rock Brighton this time

The ninth-placed Reds are six points behind the side currently occupying the final Championship play-off spot in Sheffield Wednesday.

They are in an almost identical position to where they were at this stage of last season in League One.

Famously, the campaign ended in promotion at Wembley and some optimistic supporters are daring to dream of doing it again.

Their hopes are being fertilized by a run-in that sees Barnsley play the relegation-threatened quartet of Blackburn Rovers, Wigan Athletic, Bristol City and Burton Albion in April.

For his part, Heckingbottom, whose side travel to Newcastle United on the final day of the season and still have Brighton, Huddersfield Town and the Owls to play at home, is refusing to get carried away.

On the subject of the play-offs, he said: “If we are still in it in the last game... it was like that last season and it was the only time we looked because then you might have to consider results in other games.

“If it goes to the last game, that is it. If it is before then, there is no point (talking about it).”

It is perhaps a wise philosophy, more especially given the fact that a home encounter with second-placed Brighton is on the immediate horizon.

Heckingbottom is challenging the Reds to show their true selves in tomorrow’s mouth-watering home game after admitting they produced a rare poor day at the office in the reverse fixture on the south coast in autumn. Glenn Murray scored twice, once in each half, as Brighton won 2-0.

Heckingbottom added: “It showed the quality that we can come against.

“But I thought we were soft against them and did not do ourselves justice and the lads could see that.

“We did not make it difficult enough for Brighton down there.

“We have to be ready for them having a real good day here on Saturday as well.

“It is another benchmark for us to see where we are at.”

Heckingbottom says that key midfielder Josh Scowen is likely to be out for “two to four weeks” with an ankle injury, and revealed that Saidy Janko returned to training yesterday after a long injury lay-off.

Meanwhile, the Reds’ head coach confirmed that the club’s search for a new chief executive officer remains “ongoing”’ with the issue to be discussed at a board meeting next week.