Barnsley: MacDonald happy with timing of Rotherham United mauling

The Reds were swept aside by their neighbours in the final friendly of pre-season and defenderMacDonald said it shone a light on just where Paul Heckingbottom’s side need to improve ahead of today’s season opener at Bristol City.

He said: “It’s better that it happened last week instead of this week.

“It’s just shown us what we needed to tweak going into the season.

“The positive for us is that it’s happened early on because you don’t want these things happening during the season.

“We want to kick-start our season off positively at Bristol City and come away with the three points.”

Towering centre-back MacDonald was given the news on Thursday morning that he will skipper the Reds this season.

“It’s a real honour to be named as captain,” revealed the 24-year-old, who previously captained Torquay United.

“It totally came out of the blue, I wasn’t expecting it. I was asked to get to the ground early to speak to the gaffer and that’s how I was told.

“It’s going to be a really proud moment for me to lead the team out for the first time.

“I try to be loud on the pitch anyway, but I’ll probably have to be louder and lead the team a bit more.”