Barnsley FC v Birmingham City: Why picking himself 'off the canvas' will always be second nature to Darrell Clarke

The Barnsley head coach has had some well-documented tough moments – he lost his daughter at the age of 18.

In his working life as a football manager, Clarke, pictured, has had to find strength in adversity during spells at several of his clubs and he is currently going through a testing period at Oakwell. His Barnsley side are winless in five matches in all competitions following a very frustrating and luckless run.

The fixture list is currently not particularly kind either with a home appointment against the division's marquee side in Birmingham City following on from a similarly tough midweek trip to home specialists Wrexham.

For Clarke and Barnsley, it is undeniably hard at the minute, but nothing the 46-year-old cannot handle.

He said: “I have had a life and not just a footballing career in adversity. I always pick myself off the canvas.

“People that know me very well know that is what I do. I rise to the occasion.

“It’s not like we are in a 'disaster' period. We are in a challenging position, performances have been getting back and we now need to find that end product to make sure we are winning more games.

“Obviously there is a frustration, we hope we can get going on Saturday and sometimes you are looking for that little kick-start. Saturday would be a great time to do it.”

Clarke received praise from Wrexham's management staff for the way his side played in their narrow stoppage-time loss at the Racecourse Ground.

What he and his team could really do with is a spot of luck or two and to find a bit of ruthlessness in the final third. They will certainly need both if they are going to upset what is considered by most observers to be comfortably the division's stand-out side at Oakwell.

Clarke is also equally keen to stress the importance of maintaining a positive outlook and he believes that much of what his side are currently doing is right.

He continued: “Everybody will tell you up and down the country that you need your little 10 per cent of luck.

“You are hoping for swings and roundabouts, there’s been a few deflections that have somehow hit the keeper’s foot, post or crossbar.

“But every team gets it.

“We are having our spell where we have been pretty dominant in games, but not finished it off and having that bit of luck.

“But we are staying positive. A lot of the things we are looking at with the reviews from every game, we are beating the opposition at.

“Whether that’s presses, counter-presses, shots on and off target, final third entries or touches in their box.

“Wrexham had one effort inside the box.

“To go to Wrexham and do that and they have only one chance inside the box and the rest outside.

“There’s a lot of things we are doing well, but quite a few things we need to do better at.

“We have to stay positive.”