Darrell Clarke praised the quality of his Barnsley team’s first half goals then the character they displayed after the break in a 2-1 home win over Wrexham on Wednesday.

The Reds went 2-0 up early through fine goals by Davis Keillor-Dunn and Adam Phillips.

Wrexham pulled one back late on and created several other chances but were thwarted by home goalkeeper Ben Killip and the defence.

Head coach Clarke said: “In the first half, we scored a couple of great strikes. In the second half, we were hanging on but you expect that against a team on a long unbeaten run, with a talented squad and manager. We should have put more pressure on at the top end. But we defended well – from the ‘keeper to the defence to all the boys.

“Probably the most pleasing aspect was the mentality. We’ve had a lot of virus, players coming back from injury, three games in six days is intense. We lost our legs and energy a little bit in the second half. But you have to get over the line and the boys did that.

“We’ve played better than that at home. It’s probably the most chances we’ve given away at home. Orient didn’t have a lot of chances, we were just woeful. Credit to my team for putting their bodies on the line.”

It was the first league home win in almost two months. Clarke said: “I would like to thank our fans for turning out. We were woeful at home in 2024 but let’s not forget we were the best team in the in EFL away.

“We have to back it up with more wins at home to show we have turned the corner.”

Captain Luca Connell added: “It’s exactly what we set out for.

“We stuck to the gameplan. Wrexham came on top of us. We showed character, maybe earlier on in season we would have conceded two. Credit to the defence and all the team.

“The goals were great finishes. Credit to Davo and Phillo. We didn’t have many chances. They are good and we didn’t create too many. Luckily we took them and didn’t concede too many.”