Barnsley FC v Cardiff City: Conor Hourihane says Saturday 'suffering' should serve Reds well
A win was just what Barnsley needed headed into the daunting task posed by a visit from Cardiff City on Tuesday, but Conor Hourihane thinks a bit of "suffering" will have served them well too.
Despite taking a 2-0 lead inside 16 minutes at home to Exeter City on Saturday, Jayden Wareham's second-half goal meant the Reds had to hold on for victory.
Now they face a Cardiff side who won January's reverse fixture 4-0, and will be smarting from the 2-0 defeat at home to Lincoln City which cost them top spot in League One for the first time since November.
"They're a really good side, we've been watching them over the last couple of days," said coach Hourihane.
"We're in a decent place, we've won three in four, our home form seems to be in a decent place this year in the main.
"It's one of the games we're going to have to be at our very best to get a result, but one we're looking forward to as well."
He believes the workout the Grecians gave his team will serve them well, but stressed the need for help from a crowd who showed anger at the running of the club at the weekend by throwing tennis balls onto the pitch.
"We showed a good side of ourselves in terms of playing some good stuff to score a couple of goals early," he said of Saturday's performance. "Can we show our attacking output a little bit more and continue to do that?
"But at times on Tuesday night we'll suffer. We suffered against Exeter and that will breed confidence because we saw that out.
"There'll be patches on Tuesday where we need to see certain phases of the game out and we'll need the crowd to get with us as well to give the lads energy at the right times."
Barnsley are hopeful centre-back Jack Shepherd recovers from the knee problem which took him off on Saturday.