Peterborough United v Barnsley FC: Vimal Yoganathan's red-card response shows new culture taking effect

Early-season results have been much better for the Reds than for Tuesday's League One hosts Peterborough United, yet it has been anything but plain sailing.

Barnsley have made an unbeaten start to the season despite having young players sent off in two of their four games. Of the other two, one saw them put through a penalty shoot-out to reach the League Cup second round – and a South Yorkshire derby with Rotherham United – and in the other they went 2-0 down at home to Burton Albion before winning 3-2.

Perhaps it explains why Hourihane sees the start only as "okay". Darren Ferguson would kill for okay after kicking off with four defeats out of four.

The price of having youngsters like Yoganathan, fellow 19-year-old Jonathan Bland and 23-year-old Jack Shepherd is bumps in the road and lessons to learn.

Shepherd described being sent off at Plymouth Argyle on the opening day of the season as giving him "a week to make myself a better player than I was when I got sent off”.

Midfielder Yoganathan's mature response to two daft yellow cards impressed Hourihane too.

"We had a little conversation on Sunday," revealed Hourihane.

"He come to see me and I can't wait to see him on the grass this week and striving for the Wimbledon game. He's out for Peterborough (suspended) but no doubt he'll have the bit between his teeth and be ready to go for Wimbledon.

"It speaks volumes about a player. There were a couple of occasions last year where someone might turn up late or something might happen and they wouldn't even apologise.

"It speaks volumes of the person that is Vimal that he fronts up to it. That goes a long way with me."

It all feeds into the culture Hourihane has been dead set on creating since he was initially appointed as interim coach in the spring. It was that culture, not initial results, which got him the job permanently.

"You can probably create it but ultimately, with the environment you want to create, the squad you have and the individuals in the squad, it will hopefully rub off," he said. "Hopefully that will be the way they go about their business rather than me telling them.

"Shepherd went about his business really well after the Plymouth sending off and he's put in a couple of good performances since then.

"Vimal, no doubt, will be the exact same.

"Vimal's very hard-working. He was in early on Sunday to have the conversation with myself, was in the gym, did extra work out on the grass, so, I've no worries about Vimal.

"He will come through this little challenge. I wouldn't even call it a big challenge. He'll be champing at the bit come the weekend.

"We've got some really good people in the squad over anything else. That's important to me.

"I pride myself on having really good people and no person in the squad will interrupt what we're trying to do. I think we have that.

"I think me coming in every day and just trying to be a good person over anything else rubs off on the squad as well, the same with the staff.

"That's a big thing to create."

Former Posh left-back Nathanael Ogbeta believes that culture has already shown through on the pitch.

"You could feel it just from speaking to the manager (about joining in the summer) and hearing how he wanted to use me, I could see the desire and the mentality that he had," said Ogbeta, on loan from Plymouth.

"The guy has had a great career, has had promotions and knows what it takes.

"I feel like he's used his experience to really create a culture and environment to build something special.

"A lot of the players are quite young but the way they're dealing with the pressures of the games and stuff like that. They're doing really well.

"Vim and Blandy are both by 19 but they're dealing with the pressures really well.

"I feel like these past three games in the league we've had setback after setback in terms of two red cards and going down 2-0.

"But the way we've been able to bounce back, I feel like you look at each other in the dressing room a little bit differently and think: 'I believe this guy's got my back.'

"It just creates a really beautiful chemistry.

"Now whenever in a game something goes against us I just believe we have the ability to bounce back. That's a real special ingredient for a successful team.

"So I pray that we can continue to dominate games but if there's anything that goes against us, I really hope that we can continue to bounce back and show how strong and resilient we are."

Mael de Gevigney is Barnsley's only injury doubt, rated "50-50" with an ankle problem.