Devante Cole relishing pressure as Barnsley FC look to push their way into automatic promotion picture

From the outside, there is less pressure on Barnsley than many when they play at Exeter City in League One on Tuesday.

With a nine-point cushion to seventh-placed Peterborough United, who only have eight chances to do something about it, their play-off place is beginning to look assured.

They are the only team playing in the division – Sheffield Wednesday are in action 24 hours later – and it is a game in hand on the rest of the top half. Win and they will be level on points with Ipswich Town, three behind the Owls and five off leaders Plymouth Argyle, who will still have played a game more.

With their fanbases and – with all due respect, with the exception of Plymouth – histories, the other top-six teams are probably expected to win promotion, even though only three can.

Despite having been in last season’s Championship, Barnsley are not. But having got themselves here, they will certainly put high demands on themselves.

Devante Cole is under pressure too. As Barnsley's only double-figures goalscorer this season, much is expected of him. The heavy name he wears on the back of his shirt, passed on by his prolific goalscoring father Andy, only adds to it.

Max Watters scored against Sheffield Wednesday last week, Slobodan Tedic the week before. They want Cole's place.

The good news is Cole likes pressure.

"In football it's what you play for, to win things, to be on top of your game, to progress and be better," he argues. "If there's people pushing you it can only be a good thing.

"When there's competition (for your place) there's more on the line, more at stake for you. We've got people ready to come on and do well so you've got to be on top of your game to keep your place."

That competition saw Cole substituted at half-time against Plymouth recently, then watch Watters start at Wycombe Wanderers.

"He (manager Michael Duff) explained why, there's a reason for it and we have to respect his decision" says Cole. "As a player you always want to stay on the pitch – I've been in good form – but I respected his decision.

"Two games down the line we've just beaten Sheff Wed so I can't really fault it."

Four of Cole's 12 goals this season have come in the last month, with strike partner James Norwood finding his form too the longer the campaign has gone on.

"It's one of those we've had to work on but the team is now functioning better than it was at the start of the season and we understand each other's games better," says Cole of the partnership. "He knows what I like to do and I know what he does.

"It's just come together."

The team as a whole has been more potent, averaging 2.75 goals per game over the last eight, as opposed to 1.36 before.

"The reason why we changed back to a 3-5-2 (formation) after the first games of the season is we weren't scoring enough goals so we had to do something different," explains Duff. "We were good without the ball but not particularly good with it.

"In the last two months we've been a threat with the ball and good without the ball. A lot of our goals have come from the high press and being aggressive with that but we've also used the ball really well.

"We've also had added depth.

"It takes time. I know managers always say it but the one thing managers don't get given is time. You can feel you have to keep changing the team to justify keeping your job when ultimately deep down you know players need to build relationships and understand what we want from them as well.

"I can conduct everything in my head from the side of the pitch but if the players don't know, they don't know. That's my job, the coaching staff's job (to get that across), training and implementing it with repetition, repetition, repetition.

"When you watch Man City they're almost robotic in what they're doing because they do it and do it and do it, all the way through – all the age groups.

"The one thing about the 3-4-3 earlier in the season is it's allowed us to flip in games now, it's not just a case of throwing counters at a magnetic board, waiting to see which ones stick and going with that.

"The pleasing thing is the number of goals but there's not been many going in either. That's not a bad combination."

Victory at St James' Park will heighten the pressure, pushing Barnsley deeper into the automatic promotion picture rather than settling in the play-off comfort zone.

With the confidence are feeling, Barnsley will only embrace that.

Last six games: Exeter City WLWDWL; Barnsley WWWWDW

Referee: D Handley (Lancashire)

Last time: Exeter City 0 Barnsley 1, November 8, 1980, Division Three (third tier)