Brentford v Barnsley - Chelsea game sets the standard for Cauley Woodrow

Namely, that the Reds are in far more robust health following their latest encounter with the Blues, which ended in a narrow 1-0 FA Cup exit.

Back in the autumn, they were hit for six in a 6-0 Stamford Bridge drubbing in the Carabao Cup, with the visitors failing to maintain their intensity and concentration levels over the whole duration of the game, despite a decent opening against the West Londoners.

It was something that they managed to do at Oakwell on Thursday and the trick now is to sustain it.

Woodrow said: “It gives us massive confidence. We are not going to play a team in the Championship this season who are better than Chelsea.

“If we perform how we did against the Championship sides, we will have a lot of positive results to come. It is a confidence boost for us, even though we did not come out with a result.

“Chelsea probably thought they would come here and maybe beat us six-nil again or whatever. But I think they were a little bit taken aback in terms of how we pressed them and put them under pressure.

“Our press was unbelievable and everyone, to a man, forced Chelsea to make a lot of mistakes. They have world-class players, but were making mistakes from our hard work and press and set up and being unpleasant, which is good.”

Barnsley face another upwardly-mobile side from the capital tomorrow in Brentford, who are running hot at the top of the Championship and have scored an incredible 17 goals in their past four league matches and 10 in their last two at home.

But given the Reds’ performance against Chelsea – and the history of those tumultuous events at Griffin Park on the final day of last season – the Bees will be alive to the dangers of expecting a straightforward afternoon.

Woodrow added: “Brentford are at the top of the Championship and doing really well. But we are going to go there with confidence and with a mindset in looking to play how we did against Chelsea.

“We hope to really give it a good (go) against Brentford and try and come out with three points.”

Despite the good feeling following Thursday’s game, the fact remains that Barnsley are without a league win since the end of year, even accounting for the fact that they have played several sides at the top end of the table, with that theme continuing today.

Performances have generally been good, with the Reds not dwelling on the numbers, according to Woodrow.

He added: “We have come really close to winning at times and even though we have not won (in the league) this year, it is not something we are really aware of.

“We are in a good place and playing well and we are feeling excited to focus on the league as it is our only focus now. We will enjoy the rest of the season and see where we end up.”

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