Barnsley boss Conor Hourihane on deadline day, not replacing Davis Keillor-Dunn and Luca Connell

The Reds' talisman switched to North Wales in the final hours of the window and despite trying hard to bring in a pacy forward option to soften the blow, it did not come to fruition.

The developments have caused a great deal of disappointment among Reds supporters. Barnsley's midweek home game with Northampton attracted a lowest league crowd at Oakwell in over a decade.

Asked about whether he feels he was backed enough in the window, Hourihane said: "I think I was probably backed as best as we could.

"We tried to get more bodies in than what probably ended up coming in. Over the last couple of days at the window, we were actively looking for a secondary attacking player than what we ended up with.

"I think there's a lot of probably noise around at the minute and I see that, so there's no hiding away from it. But now, from my point of view as head coach, I've got the bodies in that are in the building and my full focus now is trying to get as many results as I can for the club and for the fans really ultimately over anything else."

On the failure to bring in the pacey striker he wanted, he continued: "It wasn't from the want of trying and I'm obviously a bit disappointed that we couldn't get one, of course. I'm not going to sit here and go, I'm really, really happy. I think that would be telling a false picture that the fans wouldn't believe in, really, if I'm honest.

"But we tried and there's no getting away from it. I think we were on the phone until the very last minute to try and get something done and it just wasn't to be. Look, obviously we've lost a really good player in Davo (Keillor-Dunn) and we've obviously added Tom (Bradshaw) in, which is a positive one for sure.

"It was just the concern about getting another one with how many games we have in a short space of time. If anything was to happen to Tom or Didzy (David McGoldrick) or whatever, are we a little bit short in that area potentially? But look, it is what it is.

"My focus is to put good performances together, try and get good results and to try and have an attacking team that, as we've shown in the last two games, that the fans can be really excited to come to Oakwell or go to away games and watch week in, week out for the next three months of the season."

Asked if the club failed to make contingencies ahead of Keillor-Dunn's exit, he said: "We were having recruitment meetings from early December, weekly, and having talks and identifying players.

"Weeks go by and that changes because someone might have got injured or someone that we might have felt needed to be changed, someone picked up their form. It can change weekly.

"What I will say is that there were recruitment meetings in place from a weekly basis from the start of December and we did everything possible to make the squad as strong as we can.

"Look, Davo obviously left very, very late. We knew Davo was a very, very good player and we weren't sure if anyone would come with a number that the club would be happy with, but I think it was very, very late when Wrexham obviously did.

"We all felt like it was a really good deal for all parties and then, obviously, we ended up where we were off the back of that late deal.

"I don't think there should be fingers pointed in terms of the process because that process had started long before the January window."

Hourihane was also asked if the decision not to spent some money on a replacement for Keillor-Dunn will be added to his kitty for the summer.

He remarked: "I think that conversation is probably a long way off, if I'm honest.

"We've literally just closed the January window. We're only a couple of days since, we're still in the same week since it's been closed, so the summer talks are well off.

"I think everyone needs to stay a little bit calm now in this moment and really focus on the players that are in the building and really take care of the games that are coming up."

Captain Luca Connell was the subject of deadline-day interest from Luton Town, but a move never materialised.

Hourihane said: "I think there was interest in a couple of our top players, ones that attracted interest.

"Luca attracted interest last summer, Reyes obviously attracted interest coming into this January and Luca attracted interest again coming into this January.

"But I think we were very clear that we didn't want to lose our best players unless there was a real good number, like all players by the way.

"Like I said last week in my press conference, whether it's Kieran Flavell or Georgie Gent or Luca Connell or Reyes (Cleary), everyone's got a number and there was nothing really there from that point of view to say that number was high enough to let these kind of players go.

"I think Davo was a really fair deal for everyone and that was the reason why Davo ended up leaving, to a club by the way that's a really good football club and have got real ambitions to move forward. So I think that fitted the bill for all parties.

"But from everyone else's position, I didn't think there was too much opportunity for them to move on and obviously I'm very, very happy with that because it makes our squad a lot stronger."