Barnsley boss Darrell Clarke was delighted to finish 2024 with a 3-1 success at Peterborough United on Sunday.

The Reds went 2-0 up early in the second half then, after the posts pulled one back, secured an eighth away win of the season.

Clarke said: “It was a good performance. In the first 30 minutes we were in a lot of control. Max had a great chance but we didn’t quite have the end product. They had ten or 15 minutes which starts from our individual mistake. Ben (Killip) pulls off a great save.

“At half-time, we regrouped. It was important for the staff to put the message across to not worry about the last 15 minutes of the first half and erase the mistakes. We did that with two quality finishes.”

Centre-back Donovan Pines opened the scoring with a nice finish on the right of the box.

Clarke told the Chronicle: “Where’s the big fella got that from? I am going mad at him because he’s doing his lace and keeping everybody onside then next minute he’s in the box scoring. I have a lot of time for D. He’s a great lad. The fans love him. It’s not the sort of goal you would expect him to score.”

The second goal saw Davis Keillor-Dunn fire in from Corey O’Keeffe’s low corner into the box.

Clarke said: “Conor (Hourihane, assistant coach) and Ed (Davies) the analyst were picking the bones through the first half set pieces to see where we can get an opportunity. It was a well executed free-kick which we talked about at half-time.”

Peterborough pulled one back from the penalty spot then had a man sent off before Jon Russell scored a long-range screamer.

Clarke said: “Jon has been lucky not to score more, he should have scored at Bolton.

“At 2-0 I wasn’t happy. We came off it. I want to make sure the team is ruthless.

“We don’t want to count chickens before they hatch. We have lost some silly points from winning positions this season.”

Keillor-Dunn added: “Really pleased. Everyone is delighted. If we can keep putting wins together, that’s the aim. The boys are learning and they will keep working hard.”