JOSH Earl believes Barnsley are improving throughout the season but admits: ‘we need to defend our box better.’
The centre-back had been almost an ever-present for the Reds before an injury in early December ruled him out for a month.
He returned at the start of 2025 and has started the last three matches.
Fifth-placed Barnsley’s four-game winning run ended with a 3-1 loss at Bristol Rovers on Saturday when they missed a series of chances and made mistakes for the goals.
Earl told the Chronicle: “I feel the performances have slowly increased in quality, and the chances we’ve created.
“But we need to defend our box better.
“There have been games when we’ve done that brilliantly but there are times where we have lapses of concentration. We definitely need to improve.
“The performances have been trending upwards overall, it’s a good group and it’s exciting to see how we get on at the end of the season.”
During Earl’s injury, Marc Roberts was also out injured so Donovan Pines and Conor McCarthy filled in in defence and impressed. Both Roberts and Earl are now back in the starting line-up.
“That just shows the depth we’ve got.
“Some players don’t get the minutes they would like but, when they are called upon, they have been performing fantastically. They have given me and Robbo a good fight for our places.
“Our performances have to be really good because someone could take our spot quite quickly.”
Earl joined the Reds almost exactly a year ago from Fleetwood Town and was part of the side that missed out in the play-offs. This time he has been involved in the promotion push from the early days of pre-season.
“It’s helped me. Last season it was unfortunate that we had a poor run towards the end which let us down massively. It’s been nice to get a full season under my belt and it would probably mean more if we can strive to get promoted in my first full season here.”
Earl had never been in a promotion battle in his professional career until last season.
“I think it helps. Every experience is a good experience. Although it ended up being a bit of a negative one, you can take positives that I got to the play-offs and experienced it.”
Barnsley now host Stevenage whose games are extremely low-scoring.
“That’s what Stevenage are all about, a really tough team to break down. They are a very aggressive side with good ball-carriers in wider areas so it’s something we will look at. We will look at breaking them down and keeping a clean sheet ourselves.”
The Reds will be looking for a third straight home win after only winning two of the first 11 at Oakwell.
Earl said: “Home form is something we’ve always struggled with since I’ve been here but we’re definitely working on it and going in the right direction.”
Earl netted his second goal of the season on Saturday, heading in Corey O’Keeffe’s free-kick to make it 2-1.
“I’ve scored two, I could do with a few more. But it’s better than my usual standards.
“It’s something I definitely need to add to my game with my size.
“I need to be more aggressive. But I am improving.
“Corey’s delivery has been unbelievable and, without his assists, we wouldn’t have a lot of goals.”
