Barnsley: Red captain confident ahead of Hillsborough test

The Reds have picked up big back-to-back victories against Birmingham City and Norwich City respectively.

Saturday’s win against the Canaries at Oakwell saw Paul Heckingbottom’s side pick up three points at home for the first time since August.

And they are now looking to string some positive results together with five games between now and January 2 - with a big Yorkshire Derby against Sheffield Wednesday under the lights at Hillsborough tonight.

“We are going into the festive period now with a lot of confidence,” admitted Hourihane. “So why can’t we go on a bit of a run and keep getting the points?

“We have been doing a lot of work in the training ground and it has paying off on the pitch, which is pleasing.

“Games come thick and fast in this league. We are used to it by now.

“We have had two very good results but when we wake up in the morning we will be switching back on to Tuesday and these games will be gone.”

The Reds’ skipper is thoroughly looking forward to travelling across Sheffield to face Carlos Carvalhal’s outfit.

And he expects a cracking atmosphere, with the Oakwell faithful expected to turn out in their masses for the highly-anticipated Derby against the high-flying Owls - who sit one point off the play-offs.

He beamed: “It is going to be a fantastic game.

“We’ll go there in big numbers and they’ll sell out I’m sure.

“I’m sure we’ll sell out our allocation so it should be great all round.

“It’ll be an amazing atmosphere and one I’m looking forward to playing in.”