Barnsley: Hammill confident of Reds response

The Reds travel to the Fylde Coast after suffering just their second defeat of the year at the hands of Southend.

And Hammill is confident that they can return to winning ways and continue the push for a play-off place.

“It’s only a little blip,” assured Hammill, who has netted five times since rejoining the club in November.

“We’re a lot stronger mentally and physically now and we’re full of confidence. We’ll kick on again on Saturday.”

The two sides last met in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Northern Area final in February, when Hammill scored the winning penalty in the shoot-out to book the Reds a dream day out at Wembley.

The final at Wembley is looming, but the 28-year-old insisted that his side have their eyes firmly on the task in hand, and will be wary of a Fleetwood team who are out for revenge.

“It’s not far away now and it’s in all of our minds but we’ve got to focus” he added. “We’ve got a big game on Saturday and there are another two games on Easter weekend that we’ve got to win.

“We’ll keep ourselves focused on the league, try and get as many points as we can and get back in the play-offs, then we can enjoy Wembley.

“It hurt them that we knocked them out, I can see them looking for revenge. It will be a battle and they’re looking to stay in the league so they’ll be fighting.”

Hammill returned to the starting line-up against Southend after a three-match suspension, and says he feels refreshed and ready to play a big part in the closing stages of the campaign.

“Missing three games was a bit tough to take but it gave me a bit of respite needed to heal the injury that was already there.

“It probably came at the right time so I could rest it up and be 100 per cent fit for the remainder of the season.”