Barnsley v Derby County

JON RUSSELL
It’s fair to say that we enjoyed a
rather productive January transfer
window with seven new faces
arriving at Oakwell, the last of whom
was Jon Russell, who joined in the
closing stages of deadline day.
The final piece of Michael Duff’s
jigsaw.
A powerful midfielder, Jon made the
switch from West to South Yorkshire,
departing Sky Bet Championship
strugglers Huddersfield Town in
favour of a crack at promotion from
League One with the Reds.
Whether that’s as one of the top two,
which admittedly seems like a stern
challenge given the current points
gap – although this is football, and
anything can happen in this crazy
game – or via the lottery of the playoffs,
our number three is more than
ready for the challenge.
“We don’t rule anything out,”
asserted Jon. “The best thing for us
to do is look at automatic because we
want to win every game. We look to
win; we don’t look to draw or lose.
“We have to look at the goal of getting
automatic, but if we don’t, then playoffs
is fine. But our goal is to always
win games and to keep winning.”
If results are anything to go by, that
mentality has certainly rubbed off
on the squad with five wins from
our last six outings and goals flying
in from all angles – particularly the
centre of the park.
Luca Connell, Herbie Kane and Adam
Phillips have all been on target
in the last couple of games, with
midfielders seemingly finding that
Midas touch at a crucial stage of the
season.
Competition for places is fierce, and
with Josh Benson set to return from
injury sooner rather than later, the
depth within the Reds’ squad will be
more than a match for any team in
this division.
“Maybe me coming in has helped
everyone else!” laughed Jon. “It’s all
friendly competition, so if you’ve got
someone behind you, you want to
kick on and push on.
“Everyone has got a goal and is
trying to get to where they need to
be, and no one should be angry with
that. Everyone wants to get into
the Championship, and we’re all a
team, so we need to keep pushing
everyone on and get the best out of
our teammates.”
Our trip to Oxford United at the start
of February came too soon for the
22-year-old to make his Barnsley
debut, but he linked up with the
squad ahead of the clash with
Portsmouth as we trained at the
University of Southampton.
Those couple of days with his new
teammates allowed Jon to acclimatise
to a new environment, and it’s safe to
say that he’s fitted right in with the
group dynamics here at Oakwell.
“I travelled down, and the day after
we trained, so that was good to meet
everyone and see how everyone
plays,” reflected the midfielder. “It
was always going to be different to
what I’m used to, so it was good to
have those days to see how things
worked.
“I felt like, as the week went on, I
understood how they did things, so it
was a big help and I didn’t go straight
into it blind, and they’ve helped me
settle in.
“The lads made it very easy for me, to
be honest. They’re all nice and they’re
all close; we all do things together –
no one is left out of anything. They’ve
helped me settle in and I’ve looked at
how they go about themselves, and
everything is very professional.”
His first Reds appearance came at
Fratton Park, entering the fray as a
late substitute as we trailed to Colby
Bishop’s goal four minutes after the
break.
Having seen a Devante Cole effort
ruled out and brought back for a freekick,
it looked as though it would be
one of those days for Duff’s side, but
we showed resilience and togetherness
to claim a richly deserved point through
Liam Kitching’s dramatic equaliser.
“I feel like the squad is a very strong
squad; their heads don’t go down no
matter what, and they always try and
work their hardest,” discussed Jon.
“We got a decent result, and I feel
like away from home against a good
team, it’s a very good point to get.”
That character came to the fore in
our next outing as Cambridge United
visited Oakwell when, despite taking
an early lead, goal scorer Max Watters
was shown a straight red card shortly
before half-time.
WE DON’T RULE
ANYTHING OUT…
OAKWELL REVIEW 13 BARNSLEY VS DERBY COUNTY