Barnsley FC v Northampton Town: Reds eye a late-afternoon 'disco' as Martin Devaney embraces huge Oakwell game

It’s been a testing week for the Reds - and they have had a few in recent years, let’s be honest - but it has the potential to finish in relieving and uplifting fashion. Or otherwise.

Barnsley’s season is on the line at the end of a week which began with the sacking of Neill Collins after his tenure was beached post Blackpool.

For the second time in two years, Devaney - a West Countrymen by birth, but considered an honorary Tyke by Reds followers given his long club association - has been entrusted with taking interim charge at a stressful time.

Ahead of this game, that is where the similarities end with the first occasion back in 2021-22 when Devaney was at the helm for the club’s final three Championship matches.

Then, Barnsley were already relegated and playing out time at the end of a season which was a slow march to relegation in truth.

Home games against Blackpool and Preston ended in lame defeats where the only atmosphere came in the away sections.

North End actually designated the game as their annual ‘Gentry Day’ fixture where fans wear bowler hats and suits to commemorate those Prestonians who have passed away in the previous 12 months.

This time around at Oakwell, watched on by friends and family who will make the trip up from Cheltenham in early morning, Devaney should sample a full-on Oakwell experience provided by Reds supporters from his vantage point in the home dug-out.

Barnsley need to beat Cobblers to book play-off participation for a second successive season and the 43-year-old’s glass is half-full.

If it is his only game in charge – Austrian head coach Dominik Thalhammer has been strongly linked with the permanent post – he intends to make it memorable.

Devaney said: “When I took over (in 2021-22), it was an impossible challenge.

"I love this football club, so I am going to grab this opportunity and take what I can from it and it’s a great learning experience.

"I learnt a few little things about myself (last time). This is totally different and something you want to be part of.

"We’ve got a great opportunity, so I am going to embrace it.

"The fans are going to be out and the stadium is going to be packed. Let’s go and enjoy it.

"Everyone needs to be determined, full of belief and positivity.

"I’ve got family who are going to make the trip up from Cheltenham, which is really nice and it’s a long way and an early kick-off. It’s about managing this team and getting it over the line."

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For Luca Connell, fit again after a groin niggle, Saturday’s game is another occasion he plans to cherish and one he needs no motivation for.

At the start of the season, the midfielder was struggling with post-viral fatigue, which had laid him low in high summer and while Barnsley hit Port Vale for seven on the opening day of 2023-24 campaign, he remembers it for different reasons.

"I literally got out of bed at half past two and got onto the couch and watched it at three o’clock and then got back in bed,” he revealed.

"I remember it like it was yesterday, so you’ve got to take the positives in terms of that as well (for Saturday).”

Connell will certainly need no pep-talk today. Devaney, for his part, has been lifting anyone who has needed it in the working week and keeping things simple, while imparting his knowledge from his playing days when he has been in a similar situation.

He continued: "I remember in League One when we won at Walsall and had to win to get in the play-offs (Barnsley were promoted in 2005-06), so I’ve had those experiences on the last day when we’ve had to get a result as a player.

"It’s about taking the pressure away from the boys. All the tactics at times can be put to one side, it’s about changing that psychological factor.

"I’ve been really positive with the boys this week and had individual chats in trying to get the best out of them.

"I’ve said: ‘The fans and everyone is going to be behind you, let’s just go and enjoy it.’ Do the running and the warm up you have to do, really put a shift in - do the non-negotiables and then the football will come out, I am sure of it with these lads.

"There’s some really good players and a good squad. When we get it right, we are a force with everyone.

"They are professional footballers and in every game they play in, they are getting judged.

"They are 90 minutes away from playing in some of the biggest games in their careers.

"Last season, some of those boys experienced it and they don’t come around very often."