Marc Roberts and Conor Hourihane's handy League One history lesson for Barnsley FC

MARC Roberts and Darrell Clarke aren't ones for reading too much into league tables at this particular juncture – and with good reason.

Barnsley's current league position, buttressed by a solid five-match unbeaten sequence, is healthy enough, but the former’s belief that a season is a nine-month marathon with placings only truly counting for something come the spring is well placed and comes from hardened personal experience.

Back in his first spell at the club back in 2015-16 season, a campaign which ended in promotion from the play-offs for the Oakwell outfit, Barnsley plumbed the depths in autumn and early winter.

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It earned notoriety for a desperate six-match losing run, including an embarrassing FA Cup exit at non-league Altrincham.

Stalwart Barnsley centre-half Marc Roberts, seeking a second promotion of his career in Reds' colours. Photo: Tony Johnson.Stalwart Barnsley centre-half Marc Roberts, seeking a second promotion of his career in Reds' colours. Photo: Tony Johnson.
Stalwart Barnsley centre-half Marc Roberts, seeking a second promotion of his career in Reds' colours. Photo: Tony Johnson.

All told, Barnsley won just twice in 13 league matches between October and Christmas 2015, heaping a welter of pressure upon the shoulders of then head coach Lee Johnson, given the Reds' parlous position.

And then it changed it in quite spectacular fashion, hence why Roberts isn't one for studying the standings just yet.

Roberts, who captained the side in the absence of the suspended Luca Connell at Cambridge United last weekend, said: "We were bottom of the league at Christmas.

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"It comes up regularly to be honest (with team-mates) and is a good learning thing for me as I’ve obviously been in that position before and know what it takes to come out of that. "We (Roberts and former team-mate and current coach Conor Hourihane) speak about it all the time. It’s a learning curve for everyone.

"We had three or four games (earlier) where we weren’t great and we’ve thankfully come out on the other side and hit a bit of form and confidence.

"As long as you keep plugging away. We need to create a bit of a bit of a buzz to home fans.

"It’s just a case of taking it game by game. You kind of start looking towards the business end of the season in the last 10 or 15 games and see what you can do."

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As far as Clarke is concerned, looking at numbers of wins accrued as opposed to weekly league placings is a more quantifiable way of gauging Barnsley's progress.

On the home front, just two have been registered so far in 2024-25 – as opposed to five on the road – and that will need to increase somewhat during the winter months if Barnsley are to give themselves the best chance of success in the run home when the clocks go forward.

Clarke, whose side have back-to-back league games on home soil coming against Wigan and Reading coming up, commented: "For myself, if you get 25 wins, you are going to make the play-offs.

"If you get 27-plus wins, you have got a great chance of going up automatically. I just look at it like that.

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"Do I look at tables? Of course I do. But the focus is trying to get as many wins as we possibly can to hit those targets and I don’t care who we are playing and when.

"That’s what I try and programme into my lads. It’s about winning the next game and ticking another win off."

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