Barnsley boss Michael Duff hails best home performance of season after win over Milton Keynes Dons

Adam Phillips and Herbie Kane scored in the second half after Jordan Williams’ 18th-minute opener was cancelled out by Dons’ Mohamed Eisa before the interval.

Victory moved the hosts into the League One play-off places and their boss was pleased with what he saw.

“I thought we were as good as we have been at home,” enthused Duff. “We looked a threat from minute one.

“I’m disappointed we weren’t winning comfortably by half-time, but we started the second half as we did the first and it’s a credit to the players.

“We mixed it up and played some good football. We’re a work in progress, we nearly went a month without scoring a goal.”

On the performance of Williams & Nicky Cadden, Duff said: “When you play with a back five, you’re only as strong as your wingbacks.

“They covered a lot of ground, Jordan did well to get there for the first goal. He has been excellent every time he’s played.

“Nicky is starting to look like the player we signed, he had a bit of a stop-start pre-season. He rarely takes three stepovers and beats a man, he’s touch & deliver.

“The centre-forwards have built a relationship with him. They should be knowing where to run.

“I thought Herbie was good, he took his goal well. There were lots of great performances.”

MK Dons head coach Liam Manning was disappointed after a third league game without a win left his side six points adrift of safety.

He said: “It’s a frustrating one, we didn’t start the game great. We conceded a poor goal.

“They started the first half extremely well. We showed a good response, but in the second half we didn’t get going.

“The message at half-time was that the game was there for us. I was pleased with the momentum we had, but they’re extremely well coached and difficult to go through.

“Just because we’ve had a run of five or six games where we’ve performed well doesn’t mean we were going to continue that trajectory.

Barnsley: Collins, Edwards, Andersen, Kitching, Williams, Kane, Phillips (Josh Benson 77), Connell, Cadden, Aitchison (Norwood 63), Cole (Jalo 83). Unused substitutes: Walton, Martin, Cundy, Larkeche.

Milton Keynes Dons: Cumming, O'Hora, Lewington, Jules, Watson (Grigg 81), McEachran (Devoy 69), Johnson, Lawrence, Holland, Eisa, Barry (Burns 68). Unused substitutes: Tucker, Oyegoke, Grant, Ravizzoli.

Referee: Andy Haines (Tyne & Wear).