Barnsley can mount another form surge

The club’s stunning start to the season has come crashing down in recent weeks, the side has taken just one point from their last four games after a remarkable, previous run of five wins in six.

As the Reds’ return to the Championship division has already shown, you can easily go on a good run of form with the hectic nature of the league, so the worst thing the players can do is get disheartened after a string of bad results.

Paul Heckingbottom’s charges have had over a week off to lick their wounds after derby day defeat to Leeds United, and they have another five days before they host Fulham at their Oakwell home.

The 20-year-old Blackpool born left-back believes Barnsley’s fortunes will turn back around once again, as long as the boys all stick together – like they did last season when they went from being bottom to securing a phenomenal promotion through the play-offs.

“You can’t have time to feel sorry for yourself, you’ve just got to keep going,” admitted the former Queens Park Rangers’ man, who joined the ranks at Oakwell on deadline day for a fee in the region of £450,000.

“The games come around thick and fast and you just have to get your head around it when it’s going badly” he said.

“That’s how the Championship is, it’s a really fast league in terms of games coming around.

“If you lose a game then you’ve just got to get back up because the next game is just around the corner.

“We just need to stick together as a group and keep getting points on the board.

“There are never any excuses really.

“We know our standards and we should be keeping them up week in and week out.

“We just have to keep working on the little things and keep our standards high.”

The youngster has taken advantage of Aidy White’s unfortunate gluteal injury and has got better and better in his role with each passing game.

White is edging ever closer to fitness and Kpekawa knows he will have a fight on his hands to stay in the side.

He said: “When he comes back from injury it’s just going to push me on harder to stay in this team.

“He’s going to keep me on my toes and I’ve going to keep him on his.”