BARNSLEY will make their longest trip of the season today to Exeter City who could go level with them in the table.
The Grecians are currently 11th in League One, three points below the eighth-placed Reds who have played an extra game and are winless in six.
The Devon club were fourth in October after a run of four wins in five games, and one draw, without conceding any goals. But they have since faced almost the entire top ten.
They beat Charlton but have lost to Reading, Huddersfield, Wrexham, Birmingham and Stockport while drawing with Lincoln and Wycombe.
Exeter are winless in five in the league, following a 2-0 loss at Stockport on Saturday. They then lost 2-1 at home to Birmingham in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday.
They did have the best defensive record in the division last month but have let in nine goals in the last four league matches. They have conceded eight times in nine home games, scoring nine.
City are the third lowest scorers in the division with 16 goals in 18 games.
Barnsley have 16 points from nine away games, the third best record in the division.
Head coach Darrell Clarke said: “Any team can cause you problems.
“Exeter have had a dip in results, they are looking for consistency and so are we. They will look at us and say they haven’t won in six games but performances are good.
“Exeter have technically good players.
“But we have to focus on what we’re going to do.”
After a series of midweek games, the Reds have had a free week since the loss to Birmingham on Saturday.
Clarke said: “We had to get the balance right because it’s been game after game after game. A lot of boys have played a consistent amount of minutes.
“The early part of the week was refreshing the boys, then the back end was working on Exeter.”
City have former Barnsley forward Jack Aitchison who played 23 games for the Reds, scoring three goals, before leaving in January of last year.
The Scotsman netted for Exeter at Oakwell in January of this year, celebrating passionately in front of the Pontefract Road End. He has started 16 games this season, coming off the bench once, and is yet to score in the league – netting once in the EFL Trophy.
Former Barnsley players Kevin Miller and David Perkins are coaches under manager Gary Caldwell.
The two clubs have met 24 times, with Barnsley winning eight and losing 12.
The Reds have won just three of the last 14 meetings across half a century.
They won 1–0 at St James Park in October last year, with John McAtee heading home a 90th-minute winner before the Reds coach caught fire on the M5 while travelling back.
Cheltenham Town, then managed by Clarke, lent Barnsley their club coach to take them back to Oakwell.
That was Barnsley’s only win in the last four meetings, with Exeter winning the other three including a 2-1 success at Oakwell in January.
The Reds have travelled to the Devon club 12 times, winning three and losing nine, including a 4-2 defeat exactly 50 years before this game in 1974.
