Heckingbottom wants an immediate response

THERE have not been many times this season when Paul Heckingbottom has had cause to berate the performance of his Barnsley side on their travels.
Paul HeckingbottomPaul Heckingbottom
Paul Heckingbottom

Saturday was one of those rare occasions, with the Reds head coach non-plussed with several individual contributions in a 2-1 defeat at Derby County.

Tonight’s trip to Loftus Road enables Barnsley’s players to get firmly back in Heckingbottom’s good books and if the visitors perform anything like they did in the reverse fixture in South Yorkshire, then the Oakwell chief is likely to be a happy figure.

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Sometimes, scorelines can be misleading, as Barnsley’s narrow 3-2 win over the R’s definitely was in mid-August, with the Reds’ outclassing their London opponents on the night.

More pertinent to Heckingbottom now is immediately eradicating memories of the weekend.

Heckingbottom, who says that injury-hit winger Saidy Janko could be back in the fray at the end of next week, said: “Individually, we had lots of players who were not at their best (on Saturday) in terms of quality.

“Our level of quality dipped in possession from lots of players. Rather than one or two just dip, we had five or six.

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“After pitting his wits against Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink at Oakwell in August, Heckingbottom now comes up against Ian Holloway, who returned for a second spell in charge in November.

And the Reds chief believes that the Bristolian’s spell in the Sky Sports commentary box as an EFL pundit will enable to be well versed on his Barnsley side.

Heckingbottom said: “Ian knows this league inside out and I am sure his time in the commentary box has helped him watch our players and understand them a little bit too. He knows what to expect from this league and I don’t think there is too much we can do to surprise him.”

The Reds’ record at QPR is an atrocious one with the visitors having lost on their last nine visits there. All told, Barnsley have not won on their last 23 trips to Loftus Road, with their only success there coming in a 5-0 victory way back in January 1950.

Last six games: QPR LLWWLW; Barnsley DDWLDL.

Referee: T Harrington (Cleveland).

Last time: QPR 2 Barnsley 0, October 5, 2013; Championship.