Honesty outweighs the money at Oakwell, says Tykes boss Hill

BARNSLEY manager Keith Hill says the ‘honesty’ of his players will be a valuable commodity this season.

With finances tight at Oakwell, Hill has avoided all talk of a possible play-off push.

However, after Tuesday night’s 2-0 home win over Burnley, Hill admitted that honesty and hard work could still take the club a long way.

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His comments were prompted to a large extent by the performances of Jacob Butterfield, Jim O’Brien, and Craig Davies – who adjusted to a tactical switch against the Clarets without complaint and helped the team secure back-to-back home victories for the first time in 13 months.

“The honesty from my players is a match for anybody in this league,” said Hill. “There were a lot of sacrificial performances against Burnley.

“We switched to a 4-4-2 and put Jacob on the right and Craig down the middle because he wasn’t coping with Burnley’s Kieran Trippier (on the left).

“They were happy to play for the team rather than themselves and it’s brilliant when you have a squad of players like that.

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“Jim was having a really effective game but for him to come over from the right to try and keep Kieran Trippier quiet was brilliant.”

Asked if he was going to raise his sights beyond simply survival, Hill said: “I can’t change my sights. If you realised what we had spent this season, you would be of the same opinion as myself.

“We have ambitions to be more successful than just retaining Championship status – and who knows what is going to happen in the next 34 games – but our first aim is always to get over that line.

“The sooner we can do that, the better. That’s the main aim and it always will be but when you consider the honesty we have got in the squad and the ability, who knows where it can take you.

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“I was really pleased for the players on Tuesday and it was a reward for the efforts they are putting in. They know if we work as hard as any team in this league we will be competitive and give ourselves a fair chance of not losing any match.”

Portuguese striker Ricardo Vaz Te scored his first goal for Barnsley after coming off the bench.

Vaz Te had been dropped due to a performance described as ‘rubbish’ by Hill in the previous game at Portsmouth.

“He will benefit from having another opportunity because he was rubbish against Portsmouth,” said Hill. “You don’t know which way it is going to go with players like Ricardo. He’s got all the ability in the world but he flatters to deceive at times. But he was absolutely superb when he came on, scored a great goal, and that was probably a little bit of payback for the inept performance against Portsmouth.”

Jay McEveley and Bobby Hassell, who both missed the Burnley game due to injuries, are likely to be back in contention against Cardiff City.