Barnsley FC duo hail special moment in their young careers

The Reds secured their first victory at Loftus Road since way back in 1950 in a long overdue 1-0 triumph and more importantly the events of Saturday kept Struber's side in touch with a host of relegation-threatened sides above them on a weekend when Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield Town, Hull City and Middlesbrough all lost.

An early goal from Elliot Simoes, 20, helped Barnsley register their fourth win in six matches - and fourth clean sheet in that spell - to put them in good heart for their Oakwell double-header with Millwall and Blackburn Rovers.

It was a special afternoon for young midfielder Romal Palmer, 21, handed a shock debut, while Jack Walton, 22, was handed his first outing in goal in almost 15 months.

All told, Barnsley fielded seven starters who were aged 22 or under and Struber's bold policy bore fruit on a day when the visitors' energy, hunger and desire was self-evident.

On his surprise bow, Palmer said: "Words can't describe how I'm feeling, it's been a long time coming, honestly with ups and downs on the way and to win as well is just incredible.

"There have been times in the past when I thought it would never come, I'm getting older, I'm 21. But I've just been sticking at it, the club have supported me so much and being out there at Loftus Road was incredible and I'm so proud.

"As a footballer, you've got to be ready for these kind of occasions and challenges and I've been ready since the lockdown, since we came back in and it was just amazing to make my debut."

And on his own shock elevation and Championship debut, Walton commented: "It was great to get a clean sheet, obviously that is my job. This was the first cup final of nine that we've got and we got the three points which was massive.

"I thought it was a very professional performance, it was good to be back after so long and get back to a bit of normality.

"It was a bit strange at first with the crowd sound, but it was just a great win for us.

"It was good to get an early goal and then we had something to defend. They put quite a lot of pressure on us with long balls, particularly in the last 15 minutes but I thought our three centre halves did very well winning first and then second balls

"We've all come back from lockdown, we've all been professional when we've been at home with our fitness and we came back raring to go for the challenge.

"Romal got his debut and was excellent and Elliott came in and did really well and we already know how good Browny (Jacob Brown) is and Ben (Williams) has come through the academy as well it's good to play with them all."