Conor Hourihane wants Barnsley’s win over Luton to be benchmark for season

Conor Hourihane has called on his Barnsley side to use the 5-0 thrashing of Luton as a “benchmark” for the rest of the season.

Reyes Cleary opened the scoring for Barnsley in the seventh minute before Patrick Kelly doubled the Yorkshire side’s lead in the 35th minute.

Captain Luca Connell made it 3-0 on the stroke of half-time with a fantastic free-kick from 20 yards out.

Tennai Watson and Davis Keillor-Dunn completed the thrashing in the second half and the hosts leapfrogged their opponents in the League One table with the result.

It was Barnsley’s first clean sheet since a 1-0 away win at Peterborough back in August.

Hourihane was full of praise for his side and was happy they could win at home in the league for the first time since September 13 – a 3-2 win against Reading.

He said: “We’ve not had a league victory at home for a while.

“I know it might feel like it’s been a long time, but we’ve obviously had a lot of cup games, we’ve had international breaks, so it feels like a long time since our last home victory.

“I was delighted to kind of put that to bed because we’re on the road now for a little bit.”

He added that his side must use this victory as a “benchmark” moving forward.

“I want them to play with real courage,” he said.

“Ultimately when the lads go up to the pitch, they’ve got to make the right decision at the right time.

“They were brilliant and I’m so, so thrilled for them.

“But they need to know that this is a benchmark for us moving forward.”

It was Jack Wilshere’s biggest loss in his short managerial career.

He said his side needed to have more quality in almost every area of the pitch.

He added: “It was way, way, way too easy today.

“It’s a tough one to analyse right now.

“I need to get on the bus and watch it back and really see the goals, the positions we were in, the errors we made.

“We definitely weren’t good enough today.”

Wilshire said he cannot question his players’ attitudes and added: “It’s the second defeat we’ve had, but obviously the first defeat didn’t feel like this.

“We need to look in the mirror tonight and see if we’re happy with ourselves, with our performances.

“People may not want to hear this right now, but you walk in that dressing room one the the players are hands on their knees, hands on their faces.

“We’ve had a really honest chat in there.”