Sheffield United: Paul praises players' attitude

Paul Heckingbottom has expressed his pleasure at his players' mentality so far during pre-season as Barnsley prepare for the Championship.

The Reds were disciplined in attack and defence against Guiseley AFC as they ran out 2-0 winners over the National League side in their second pre-season friendly on Tuesday night.

Youngster James Carvell and new signing Stefan Payne both got on the scoresheet as they look to impress Heckingbottom before the season starts.

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The 38-year-old was delighted by the way his players went about the job in hand.

“Every player reacted well and did what they needed to do, I’m after the mentality, seeing what their attitude is like on the pitch and see if they’re reacting in training,” said Heckingbottom.

“The second goal came from a good bit of pressing high up the pitch and it was a good finish from Stefan so overall, I was pleased with both halves.

“We asked the lads to work on things and they did that well, the most pleasing thing was our reaction to losing the ball, showing the players are taking things on board.

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“Tuesday was a case of rotating players again and trying to keep certain partnerships together to have a look at them. We might have to start looking at things a bit differently in the games now, increasing the number of minutes.”

New boy Elliot Lee travelled to Nethermoor but didn’t feature due to a calf strain.

He added: “Elliot suffered a calf strain, which hopefully will clear up in a few days.

“We’re not going to risk anyone in pre-season, you don’t want anyone to miss games.”

Meanwhile, a Barnsley XI fell to a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Frickley Athletic of the Evo-Stick Premier Division last night.