AN angry Conor Hourihane watched his Barnsley side suffer late on Tuesday evening and was glad they did.

The Reds' interest in one knock-out competition ended in abject and unsatisfactory fashion as Hourihane's side were smashed 5-0 in the Potteries in their last-32 EFL Trophy tie at Port Vale.

After a recent five-goal victory over Luton, a strong visiting side on paper endured the flip side of the coin, much to the dismay of Hourihane, whose players are now assigned with getting back in his good books to extend their cup season in 2025-26.

He said: "I hope they're hurting. They've got to be.

placeholder image — Barnsley boss Conor Hourihane.

"Us suffering at the end of the game with 10 men and Robbo (Marc Roberts) going off injured; I was quite glad they were suffering, to be honest. They deserved to suffer.

"I didn't think they were anywhere near what I expected of them. At times, you suffer in games and it's not nice to be out on that pitch when a team has got the hold on you.

"And I hope they (Barnsley players) hold on to that feeling and they don't want to experience it again because it's not nice as a player when a team is on top of you. And I hope they hang on to that feeling and use it as motivation moving forward."

With a key league trip a little less further down the A1 to Lincoln City on the itinerary on Tuesday, Hourihane will be pragmatic in terms of his team selection in the Fens.

Barnsley's Marc Roberts, second left, celebrates scoring his winning goal in added time in the FA Cup first-round tie against York City with captain Luca Connell, right. Photo: Tony Johnson.

The substandard performance of several players at Vale is something else that he will no doubt factor into his thinking as well.

The Reds chief, whose side won in the league at Posh in August – the Reds are unbeaten in their last six visits to London Road - commented: "We want to get through and win the game.

"We know that the big boys come in after this round.

"But we've got to take everything into effect really at the weekend. Its about trying to get through the tie and of course, we all want to win, but obviously there's the thought processes of the league games coming up that we know that are very important.

"Ideally, we put a team out that puts in a performance that hopefully obviously ends up in the right result. And then obviously we're in a good place, heading into the two league games (next week)."

On Posh, he added: "They started very strongly under Luke (Williams) but come into this off a couple of poor results. We know Luke’s sides like to keep the ball and be possession based. So we must be very good out of possession.”