CONOR HOURIHANE was “relieved” to earn a first victory since taking interim charge of Barnsley as his side recorded a convincing win against play-off hopefuls Bolton Wanderers.

Fabio Jalo and Jonathan Russell scored two goals apiece, with Aaron Collins’ second-half goal a consolation for Bolton, who dropped to eighth.

“Full credit to the players, I thought they were outstanding and I could feel it coming,” said Hourihane. “I’ve seen it in training over the last couple of days. I thought their energy was really good.

“I’m really proud of them for sticking to their work, as well as everyone else in the building. We haven’t come away from what we want to do.

“To do it at home against a good team was special. It all just came together, which was nice.

“We forced them into three changes after half an hour and it shows how good we were. I’ve just said to the lads that that is how good we can be.

“I want to bring that excitement back to playing at home. Dribbling with fast wingers is what I was used to when I was a player. When you have fast and direct players, the fans love that.”

Barnsley started with purpose and opened the scoring early. Russell manoeuvred past his defender and curled a low shot past Nathan Baxter from the centre of the box in the 15th minute.

ON THE MARK: Jon Russell scored twice in Barnsley's 4-1 win over Bolton Wanderers. Picture: Tony Johnson

The Reds doubled their lead 10 minutes later with a well-worked set-piece routine. Davis Keillor-Dunn lofted the ball into the area where Josh Earl had pulled to the back post to lay it off for Jalo to finish from close range.

Bolton made a lively start to the second half. However, it was Barnsley who extended their lead when Jalo rifled his second of the game into the roof of the net.

Collins responded for the visitors when he rounded the goalkeeper three minutes later to make it 3-1, but Russell ended all doubt four minutes from time when he rose to head home a fourth for Barnsley.

Barnsley: Flavell, Bland, Roberts, McCarthy, Earl (Lembikisa 87), Phillips, Connell, Russell, Jalo (Cotter 90), Keillor-Dunn, Humphrys (O'Keeffe 67). Unused substitues: Hayton, Lewis, Rodrigues, Nwakali.

Bolton Wanderers: Baxter, Forino-Joseph, Santos (Lolos 67), Johnston (Murphy 39), Dacres-Cogley (Jones 38), Sheehan (Dempsey 46), Thomason, Osei-Tutu, Morley (Matete 41), McAtee, Collins. Unused substitutes: Southwood, M Gomes. Referee: Elliot Bell (Merseyside).

'That is how good we can be' - Barnsley FC boss off the mark with win against Bolton Wanderers