Barnsley assistant manager Ferran Sibila has confirmed that Barnsley did request for the Championship clash vs Nottingham Forest to be postponed due to a lack of available players.
Forest host the Tykes in the Championship encounter on Tuesday night as they look to extend their winning run to four games.
It has been a memorable couple of weeks for Forest. A 1-0 win over Premier League giants Arsenal, thanks to Lewis Grabban ’s late strike, was followed by a 2-1 East Midlands derby win over Derby County on Saturday afternoon.
Sandwiched in between was a 1-0 win over Millwall at the Den.
Bottom-of-the-table Barnsley have not had such a memorable time, scraping past non-league Barrow in the FA Cup, before losing 2-1 against Birmingham City at the weekend.
It has now been confirmed that the club attempted to get the midweek clash vs Forest called off.
“We had less than 13 first team players in training today, we asked to postpone the game, but we’ve not been allowed,” Sibila said in his pre-match press conference.
The situation means that Forest go into the game as heavy favourites to pick up all three points.
Despite that, Sibila has said that Forest’s recent results and the turnaround in their season can give the Tykes the belief that they need to replicate their opponents.
“It’s time for them to lose! But no, they’ve won three in a row, they did beat Arsenal recently, so we know it’s a big challenge for us especially in these circumstances,” he added.
“But if they can beat Arsenal then we can beat Nottingham Forest.
“They started very badly and have gone on to turn it all around. It’s fine margins. The momentum in football is huge. That positive flow.”
