Barnsley goalkeeper Brad Collins says 'confidence and resilience' will be key if his side are to stay up this season. 

As it stands Barnsley still sit in the relegation zone, 22nd in the league but are only two points off Reading above them.

Their form has picked up recently and they've won two of their last four games and drawn the other two.

They face Sheffield United this weekend as they look to continue their fight and should they win and other results go their way, they could find themselves out of the relegation zone and ahead of Reading.

With their first game after the international break then being against Reading, this weekend's results could affect how the teams come out in that game.

It's a big ask to go and beat a team sixth in the league but Collins knows the importance of it if they can do the job. He told The Yorkshire Post: "With the international break coming after it, another win [on Saturday] will put us in great stead coming back into it for the Reading game."

Since Poya Asbaghi arrived at Barnsley, their performances have improved and Collins believes he knows what his side need to do to get the results they need as he said: "To win games in this league, you have to be defensively resilient and head and block a lot and the boys have been terrific lately.

"To be honest, for the young players, a lot of it comes with confidence and we were poor for long spells and the boys are growing in confidence every day and to get results like this over the past few weeks means we are going to grow more in confidence and get better.

"I just hope we will stick at it."

The Verdict:

It's clear to see the positive effect Asbaghi has had on the team since arriving at Barnsley and their recent results are reflective of that.

Collins is showing us that the confidence in the boys is naturally increasing as the results improve and they are now talking about the reality of staying up when a few months ago it didn't look possible at all.

The game against Sheffield United at the weekend is definitely going to be a tough one but Barnsley need to take the confidence from their recent games and look to grind out a result taking them into the international break on a high.

With Reading being their first game back after the break, that will be crucial to their season and therefore if they can approach that off the back of a good result against a higher team, Barnsley could escape the drop this season.