Darrell Clarke was delighted with Barnsley's 2-0 home victory over Rotherham United on Friday and challenged his side to keep winning at Oakwell.
The Reds gained their second home victory of the season thanks to goals by Jon Russell and Stephen Humphrys, as they dominated the majority of the match.
Head coach Clarke told the Chronicle: “I don’t think it’s our best performance. We have had some good ones. But it’s a good night to win a derby at home.
“We played some really good stuff, especially first half. We created chances and were disappointed not to go in 2-0 at the break. (Davis) Keillor-Dunn had a great header just before half-time
“We’ve had to defend well. Rotherham were always going to come at us a bit but Ben (Killip) has pulled off a great save then we got the vital save.”
Captain Luca Connell said: “That’s the standard we’ve set now. We’ve been getting better over the last few weeks and tonight we put on a good performance.
“That’s for the fans as well. They came out in numbers again and have been following us home and away – hopefully that’s a taste of what they will be seeing from now on.”
Russell opened the scoring after 32 minutes. Clarke said: “Jon is doing tremendous. I think he’s better playing high up the pitch as an eight. He can drop into the six at times. He’s getting goals and he gives us good control. He deserves the plaudits.”
Clarke also praised Humphrys for his late goal after being dropped to the bench.
“Brilliant. It’s testament to the way he trained yesterday. It’s tough to leave him out because he’s been doing very well. I felt Max (Watters) might be bale to stretch more consistently in this game and he performed very well. We have three centre forwards on the top of their game at the minute - DKD, Humphs and Max.”
Killip made a fine save from Rotherham’s only chance at 1-0.
Clarke said: “You know your ‘keeper will have to make key saves and he made one. But it would have been travesty if we had lost another two points tonight. After the Charlton game that is two really good home performances on the spin. We have to keep that going and trying to build on our home form.
“We will enjoy the night but we need more than one home win to turn the table. We will keep focus with our work – working on the intensity on the training ground and work on the things we need to keep working on.”
Clarke said goalkeeper Gaga Slonina would miss four to six weeks with a finger injury.
