Barnsley 0 Brighton & Hove Albion 0: Hill keen to confirm his Barnsley squad before heading to Spain

It was a largely forgettable match in which neither set of players looked particularly interested.

Brighton’s Ashley Barnes screwed a shot wide from a good position in the first half and Barnsley goalkeeper David Button was forced to make a good save to keep out an effort from Gary Dicker.

Substitute John Stones had a great chance to steal a win for the hosts in stoppage time, but put a free header wide from close range.

Hill said: “It was a typical end-of-season game but I was happy with the performance and I thought we were good for a draw. We could have even won it at the end.

“As a manager, the job continues throughout the summer. There’s no real time off.

“When you consider the calibre of the team coming up and the ones staying in the division, it’s getting increasingly difficult for clubs like Barnsley in the Championship.

“They’re basically creating a Premier League two and it’s a shame for Barnsley because it’s an honest club.

“I’m potentially looking to make four or five permanent signings and we’ll probably have three or four players on trial in pre-season. You find out everything about trialists over a six-week period.

“There’s also the loan market to use so we’ve got all bases covered.

“We’re going to Spain again in pre-season and in an ideal world we’ll have our squad together by then.”

Brighton boss Gus Poyet agreed with his Barnsley counterpart about the match and commented that he was pleased with his side’s top-10 finish.

He said: “We were playing for nothing, so it was no surprise how the game turned out.

“After the first 45 minutes, I thought the best thing was that there were only another 45 minutes to go. Everyone got a bit excited towards the end of the season when we were in the top 10.

“If you said to me at the start of the season that we would be in the top 10 at the end, I would have taken it.”

Former Leeds United assistant manager Poyet added; “The fans have been fantastic. Even Keith Hill was surprised to see how many fans came up from Brighton for a game which didn’t mean anything.”

Barnsley: Button, Wiseman, Foster, McNulty, Golbourne (Stones 75), O’Brien, Dawson (Hassell 55), Perkins, Clark (Done 61), Rose, Davies. Unused substitutes: Cotterill, Gray.

Brighton & Hove Albion: Gonzalez, Calderon, Dunk, El-Abd, Mattock, Bridcutt, Dicker (Navarro 61), Buckley (Assulin 61), Vicente, Barnes, Mackail-Smith. Unused substitutes: Ankergren, Sparrow, Vokes.

Referee: Colin Webster (Tyne & Wear).