Barnsley: We're revelling in the away day challenge
The Reds have won eight times on the road so far this season, which is double the amount of away games they won the last time they were in the Championship.
Heckingbottom feels playing in some of the bigger grounds for the first time gives his players a psychological boost, which they will not have next season.
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Hide Ad“I’m not naïve enough to think our away form comes from what we do on the training ground,” admitted Heckingbottom.
“I think the players subconsciously see it as a challenge playing away in this league.
“We’re back at this standard for the first time again, going to some big grounds and we try to harness that challenge.
“We try to use that fact, plus the work we do on the training ground, as a motivation.
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Hide Ad“We try to use that as an extra five per cent boost, but next season we won’t have that either because we’ll be established again.”
Adam Hammill (dead leg) and Gethin Jones (bruised toe) have both overcome niggles sustained on Saturday to feature in the capital this evening.
The Reds travel down south to take on Queen’s Park Rangers under the lights at Loftus Road.
A late Josh Scowen winner grabbed Heckingbottom’s men all three points in the reverse five-goal thriller back in August.
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Hide AdAlthough, the Reds have not beaten the Hoops away from home since way back in 1950.
And Heckingbottom knows Ian Holloway’s outfit have enough quality to hurt his side.
He added: “Like most teams in this league they’ll feel like they need more consistency.
“Like most teams in this league they’re tough to beat and they’ve got that quality to hurt you as well.
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Hide Ad“In that respect it’s much like every other game. We’ll prepare the same and know what a tough game we’re in for.
“Of late they’ve shown two sides of their game, their toughness and their resilience.
“They’ve shown an aggressive side with three centre-backs, but they’ve also shown that same shape can be expansive and they can take risks.
“They’re another team working on a number of ways to win a game.”