MARC Roberts is delighted to be back in the Barnsley team after returning from suspension and contributing to two wins this week.

The defender, 34, missed three games for a red card at Wycombe Wanderers in late January and returned almost a month later for the win at Rotherham United on Saturday.

That followed an injury at the end of 2024 which saw him miss five games.

Roberts told the Chronicle: “It was a really frustrating ban.

“I won’t say too much about it but it’s gone and now it’s nice to be back in the team.

“It felt like the longest suspension ever because Wycombe seems like ages ago. I had just got back after injury so it was very frustrating.”

Before the Rotherham game, Barnsley had taken just a point from six games with head coach Darrell Clarke calling them ‘soft’ and ‘flaky’.

Roberts said: “We are not under any illusions.

“It’s in black and white. We watched videos and analyse it.

“We took our foot off the gas recently.

“We showed at Rotherham we can be disciplined and resilient when we are concentrating and sticking to a gameplan.

“When everyone is at it and pulling to the same goals and same discipline levels, we can compete in this league.

“When someone is questioning your character, you want to stand up and show that you’re not soft and you are resilient.”

Roberts was part of the Reds side that came from bottom in December to get promoted in 2016, in his first spell with the club, and is hoping to launch another comeback promotion bid this season after the gap to sixth shrank from ten points to four this week.

“We just have to concentrate on ourselves and the table will take care of itself.

“As long as we stay positive and stick together as players, staff and fans – I know it’s been frustrating – we can beat anyone and we’ll see where we end up at the end.”