Michael Duff may have won the League One Manager of the Month award for November but acknowledges the work he has to do at Barnsley is far from complete.
Duff said he was pleased to win the award yet warned against complacency ahead of the Tykes’ away game against Oxford United tomorrow.
He said: “It’s always nice to be recognised, but I’m not going to sit back and think ‘right, that’s it, I’ve done it, I’ve cracked it’.”
When asked about the so-called ‘curse’ of Manager of the Month, Duff joked: “We’re not going to bother going to Oxford, we’ll just take a 2-0 defeat and then crack on next week!
“No, I am superstitious, but not that superstitious.”
It comes after Barnsley’s good form in the last month, winning five out of six of their last games, which has seen them rise to fourth in the league table.
This included a 2-1 win over promotion rivals Peterborough last Friday.
On Barnsley’s success, Duff said: “We started the game on Friday on the front foot and looked like a team that was confident.
“The feeling afterwards in the dressing room was really good, so hopefully they’ve bottled that up and can carry on into Saturday.”
Although he said that Oxford would be a tough game: “They’re one of the better teams in the league, the league position doesn’t tell you that, but history tells you that.”
Oxford are currently fourteenth in the table, having had a poor start to the season. Although they are undefeated in their last seven league games.
Barnsley midfielder Herbie Kane agreed with his manager that Oxford will be a challenge.
He said: “You’ve got to go in each game with the same mentality and same desire to get the outcome you want.”
Barnsley vs Oxford will kick off at 3pm tomorrow at the Kassam Stadium.
The full match can be watched on iFollow, while highlights will be shown on ITV4 at 10pm.
