Barnsley 1 Watford 0: Flitcroft reveals debt to Zola as rampant Reds lay down marker

That is the belief of Kelvin Etuhu after a second successive win before the international break kept the Reds clear of the drop zone and moved them a point above their next opponents, Sheffield Wednesday.

Rarely, even under Danny Wilson as they rose into the Premier League with a samba swagger, will Barnsley have put on such a performance of desire and commitment from the first to the last minute than they did against a side who are chasing automatic promotion.

Had not Jonathan Bond pulled off two fine blocks from Chris O’Grady and had not substitute Chris Dagnall blazed over the bar when sent through, Barnsley’s win against the side boasting the best away record in the Championship would have been more emphatic.

As it was, they had to settle for Bobby Hassell rising at the far post to head home from Jacob Mellis’s free-kick in the 35th minute after the defender had been brought off the bench in the seventh minute to replace calf victim right-back Rory Delap.

Let us not forget that Watford are no ordinary Championship club, having been able to exploit current rules to prop up their squad with 11 international loan signings, six of whom are from sister clubs Udinese and Granada.

Flitcroft, who stepped up from Hill’s No 2 when Sean O’Driscoll and then Terry Butcher declined the invitation to lead a rescue act, refused to take a snipe at a side led by Gianfranco Zola, whom he took his coaching badges alongside.

He also revealed that the Watford manager had helped him devise the system which has given them more than a fighting chance of staying up.

Flitcroft said: “There’s been a lot said about Watford and what they’ve tried to do and how they’ve done things. I think it’s brilliant what they’ve done; I love creativity, I love the way that they’ve taken advantage of a situation.

“Instead of moaning about a lot of players that they have got, like a lot of managers do, you have to accept you’re playing Watford, you’re playing some top, top players and you’ve got to deal with them and we dealt with them.

“At the start of the season we got overrun by them (Watford won 4-1) and got run ragged but today we’ve got up close and personal. We’ve got in and around what they do, we’ve put them under real pressure and we’ve returned with three points and victorious, and it’s an honour to manage this football team at this point.

“Gian is an incredible guy. I was having problems with the system third game in and he spoke to me and helped me tweak it a bit. Gianfranco Zola is going to be the boss everybody thinks he is going to be and that’s going to be a Premiership boss at the top of his game. I love the fella to bits.

“He was on my A licence course. I just gravitated to him, we had like-minded philosophies and when you go on courses if you can’t learn off the best then you are not a learner.”

Flitcroft is a shade upset that his players have not been getting enough credit for their revival, adding: “People will hear we stopped Watford but we played well as well. We will get credit for stopping them but we have a bit of everything in that team – it was a performance that deserved more goals. There is a unity here which I have not been involved in in 20 years of football.”

Etuhu spelled out why Barnsley have been so successful under former No 2 Flitcroft.

Barnsley’s first signing of last summer under Keith Hill, Etuhu –who had to leave Portsmouth due to their financial woes – said: “He (David Flitcroft) has brought everybody together with a lot of team spirit.

“No disrespect to the previous manager but at the time there were a lot of different individual groups but now everyone is together. Everyone wants everyone else to do well whether you are playing or not, so that is the difference – the atmosphere around the training ground.”

The fans are also adding their voice to the cause after a seventh win in 12 games under Flitcroft, and Nigerian Etuhu, who alongside David Perkins dominated central midfield, continued: “It’s a brilliant atmosphere when the fans are on your side. It gives you the encouragement to go that extra yard so credit to the fans who are turning up and providing a good atmosphere at Oakwell.”

Although they have five more of the top six sides to play in the nine-match run-in Etuhu says: “Everyone is confident that we will stay up. We just keep working every day and do not get too big for our boots. We just stick to our objectives.

“It was a brilliant team performance today because Watford are a very good side. I prefer to be playing in the middle and that is where I feel I give the team my best shifts. That was my best performance of the season, I had a lot of energy and that was my favourite performance.”

His brother Dickson now finds himself fighting to stay clear of trouble with Blackburn Rovers but Kelvin added: “All we focus on is what we do. It’s a very tight league but we have to forget about everyone else, pick up our points and then everything will fall into place.”

Barnsley: Steele, Delap (Hassell 7), Wiseman, Cranie, Kennedy; O’Brien, Etuhu, Perkins, Mellis (Cywka 57); O’Grady, Scotland (Dagnall 46). Unused substitutes: Alnwick, Harewood, Tunnicliffe, Dawson.

Watford: Bond, Doyley, Nosworthy, Ekstrand; Cassetti, Battocchio, Yates (Chalobah 46), Hogg (Bia 62), Anya (Forestieri 62). Unused substitutes: Bonham, Hall, Pudil, Geijo.

Referee: A Bates (Staffs).