Barnsley v Northampton: Progress is Tykes' sole focus in Cup combat

The catalyst for last season’s staggering achievements at Oakwell was the club’s early-season run in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, which kept their competitive fires burning in an otherwise dank autumn. Events culminated in Wembley glory on April 3 before even greater riches in the League One play-off final.

While tonight’s EFL Cup first-round tie is sandwiched in between some important Championship business, Heckingbottom is taking the competition seriously.

On where the EFL Cup ranks for the Reds, who earned kudos despite bowing out 5-3 to Everton in a second-round thriller almost 12 months ago, Heckingbottom said: “You never know who you are going to get in the next round.

“We could be at a great stadium up against a great manager and great players and that is where you want to be and that is our focus and we want to bring some more revenue into the club.

“We want to try and have a cup run, while we want to work on things from Saturday and put them into practice.

“We want to win the game and are not going to give people games for the sake of it. We will obviously have to make changes, but there will not be too many as the squad is not big enough.”

Out-of-favour defender Lewin Nyatanga has joined tonight’s opponents Northampton on a season-long loan, but he is ineligible for this evening’s tie.

Barnsley are seeking to improve on their poor recent record in first-round matches in the League Cup in its various guises at Oakwell, where they have lost three of their last four ties.

Meanwhile, the Reds are awaiting scan results following Sam Winnall’s early exit from the fray at Ipswich Town on Saturday with a hamstring injury just four minutes into the game at Portman Road.

Heckingbottom expects last season’s top scorer to be out for at least a couple of weeks.

Last six games: Barnsley DWWWWL, Northampton DWDWWD.

Referee: C Boyeson (East Yorkshire).

Last time: Barnsley 1 Northampton 2; January 1, 2003; Division Two.