Barnsley defender Liam Kitching says he was "buzzing" after Saturday's win over Coventry City in which he was awarded the man of the match award.

He told the club's official media: "I'm just delighted to let the home fans see what we're going to do this season and, hopefully, we're heading in the right direction."

Barnsley took on Coventry at Oakwell where they saw off the visitors with a 1-0 victory. Frieser gave the hosts their goal, scoring for the first time at home in front of 14,000 fans and despite a late Coventry penalty, Collins was able to save to secure the three points.

Kitching credited the home fans for their part to play during the afternoon calling them the 12th man.

He stated: “The fans and adrenaline make everything a lot easier, especially to come to Barnsley and for the away team to play in front of the crowd I’m sure it’s not very nice, but good for us.”

Despite signing for Barnsley in January, this was only the young defender’s third league appearance for the club after injury setbacks.

However, he produced a strong defensive performance on Saturday to help his team keep their first clean sheet of the season.

He admitted to a few mistakes towards the end of the game but says the team dug deep, concluding: “Near the end I slipped up a few times and I was feeling it at the end of the match. But the lads dug deep and Brad Collins saved me, to be fair.”

 

The Verdict:

Given the long awaited return of fans, we could expect to see more home wins this season with large number of spectators getting behind their team.

Barnsley will be hoping for another strong campaign this year looking to take this momentum from their first win of the season forward.

As for Kitching, his performance was good. He's embarking on a big year at Barnsley and will be hoping to build on this outing.