With just a week to go until the Reds visit Nottingham Forest in the first game of the new season, Keith Hill takes his side to Scunthorpe today in the final friendly of pre-season.

Barnsley were impressive on Tuesday night as they beat a rather poor-looking Sheffield Wednesday side 2-0.  Several players have commented on Keith Hill’s philosophy of retaining possession so the opposition can’t score and this was definitely in evidence in the last game as Wednesday’s players seemed to resort to kicking lumps out of Barnsley, particularly Jacob Butterfield, or using rugby style tackles!  If this tactic works in competitive Championship games then we are sure to succeed at frustrating our opponents at least.

As they were only relegated from the Championship last season, Scunthorpe United should provide the toughest opposition Barnsley have had in a pre-season which has seen them win every game quite comfortably.  It can be dangerous to assume that pre-season form will have any bearing on league performances – a few years ago Simon Davey’s Barnsley won all the pre-season friendlies convincingly but then ended up with only a point from the first month of Championship action – but with the tidy passing, strength and pace going forward it is difficult to agree with the mainstream view that Barnsley will struggle yet again?

Ricardo Vaz Te should get one more opportunity to earn a Barnsley contract today and Kyel Reid is likely to play some part after joining Barnsley on trial earlier this week.