Gerhard Struber: Barnsley survival my 'biggest job' in football, says boss

Gerhard Struber's Barnsley scored stoppage-time winners in each of their final two Championship games

Manager Gerhard Struber says keeping Barnsley in the Championship is the "biggest job" he has done in football.

A dramatic win at Brentford, coupled with a draw for Wigan and defeat for Charlton, saw the Tykes finish a point clear of the bottom three.

Austrian Struber, who took over at Oakwell in November, helped Barnsley overhaul a seven-point gap to safety when the season restarted in June.

"There’s been so much togetherness and belief in the past few weeks," he said.

"These boys have gone beyond their personal limits time and time again and deserve to stay up."

Two stoppage-time winners in their last two games against Nottingham Forest and Brentford saw Barnsley stave off what looked like an inevitable immediate return to League One.

Four wins and two draws from their nine games after the season restart saw them move from the bottom to 21st.

"In my football life, it’s the biggest job I’ve done, I’m so proud of my boys," Struber told BBC Radio Sheffield.

"We never gave up in every game and in every moment and I think everyone understands now that what's been said in the last few weeks hasn’t just been words.

"I said when the season restarted, we would need absolutely everyone at the club behind us and I've had so many messages from supporters in recent weeks. I'm just so pleased we could reward them.

"We’re a good team and we’ve shown that in our performances. We came up against a very good (Brentford) side and we didn’t allow them time on the ball, our pressing was superb.

"In the second half, we gave ourselves a few more problems and we had a bit of luck, but we earned that."

But despite the celebrations at Griffin Park after full-time, Barnsley could yet find themselves in League One next season if Wigan's appeal against their 12-point deduction for entering administration is successful.

Their case is scheduled to be heard on 31 July.

"I have no thoughts in that direction towards Wigan or any other club right now," Struber said. "It's all been about putting my energy into our style and our performances.

"But it's obviously a very difficult situation for employees at Wigan. I'm very happy to be a part of Barnsley and we've done the right thing in the past few weeks and now we deserve a big party."