Barnsley v Sheff Wed: Tykes boss Michael Duff wants 'folklore' moment in derby

Barnsley manager Michael Duff says his team can become part of club folklore against Sheffield Wednesday

Barnsley manager Michael Duff has urged his players to write their names into club folklore by completing a league double over Sheffield Wednesday.

Victory in Tuesday's South Yorkshire derby could move the Tykes to within five points of the League One automatic promotion places.

They won 2-0 away at the Owls, the current league leaders, in September.

Duff said his team will take confidence from that win, and an 11-game unbeaten run that has taken them to fourth.

"Hopefully on Tuesday night, in front of the TV cameras, we can put on a good show and showcase the league with two good teams going at it," Duff told BBC Radio Sheffield.

"They're the games you want to play in. You can make yourself a hero and go down in folklore in certain parts of the country. If someone can go and get a winner and we do the double over them, it will go down in a little piece of history.

"We went there (to Hillsborough) with not a lot of expectation, while there might be a bit more expectation from our support base now, but everyone at the football club is looking forward to it, from top to bottom."

Duff said the fact the game was a derby was irrelevant to his players, who were focussed on keeping themselves in the hunt for automatic promotion, alongside second-placed Plymouth and Ipswich, in third.

"There are local bragging rights and all that, so we are not stupid and not trying to play it down," Duff added.

"It's a full house against your local rivals. There are only three teams above us, and they're one of them, so if you want to get higher up the league you have to try to beat the teams above you.

"The players don't need to be told the significance of the game. If they're naive or been living in a cave for the last three days, they'll turn up at the ground and there will be a buzz, a hum. You can feel it, that energy when you turn up."

He warned that Darren Moore's team have improved since the first meeting and are top of the table on merit.

"They have conceded nine goals away from home all season, and kept 20-odd clean sheets in 35 or 36 games," said Duff. "That's why they're top of the league.

"They do every part of the game well, which is why they're 23 games unbeaten. They have goals, have quality and Championship players. They're not there by fluke so we have to be at our best."