Davey keeps cool in dogfightHIS honeymoon period is distinctly over but rookie Barnsley manager Simon Davey is showing no sign of pressure in the fight for Championship survival. Now 18 games into his new role, the man who was a virtual unknown to supporters prior to his appointment, has never been under any illusions about the size of his task. They started the season among the favourites for the drop and, as yet, Barnsley have been unable to divert from the script. A win tonight over Hull City, however, could still drag them out of the relegation zone. With another 13 league games to play, Davey's managerial future is as much at stake as the club's league status. If Barnsley stay up, he will be regarded as a hero. Yet if they go down, it will be a major surprise if he is invited to stay. A return to coaching youngsters at Academy level would inevitably be calling. For now, Davey insists there is no reason why Barnsley supporters will not be celebrating at the end of the season. And while it will not have been pleasant to hear fans chanting the name of his predecessor, Andy Ritchie, after a recent FA Cup defeat against Southend United, Davey says things are definitely improving at Oakwell. "The training programme has changed, the players are working harder in training, we have had more clean sheets and I think the whole culture is changing," he declared. "But you cannot build Rome in a day. If you come into a job and you are sitting safely in the middle of a division, you have got your thoughts on building next year. "But I have been put into a situation where we are in a relegation battle – and will be until the end of the season – so you are always looking short-term, the next game, the next four games. You can't look to next season because you're not safe." Davey's appointment was a gamble on the part of chairman Gordon Shepherd and major benefactor Patrick Cryne who sacked Ritchie just six months after he led the side to play-off glory at the Millennium Stadium. Ritchie was criticised for dragging his heels in the transfer market – a strange charge to be levelled at any manager – but since Davey took command, Barnsley have unveiled seven new signings, albeit the majority young and only temporary acquisitions. With a bit of luck, however, Hungarian international strikers Peter Rajczi, 25, and Istvan Ferenczy, 29, could be the aces up Davey's sleeve; the pair are likely to line up together for the first time in tonight's game. Striker Daniel Nardiello starts a three-game ban. Midfielder Grant McCann is back from flu, but Dwayne Mattis and Paul Hayes are now struggling with the illness. On loan defender Adam Eckersley is ruled out with a groin injury. Davey, who at 35 is two years younger than Hull striker Dean Windass, acknowledges the importance of a game against a club blocking the exit door from the relegation zone. He has a target of six wins for safety – but it is a tall order when you remember that Barnsley have won only nine all season, and lost eight of the last 11 in the league. "We have known it was going to be hard from day one and we know we are going to have an uphill task from now until the end of the season," he admitted. "We have to be realistic. There are some massive clubs in this division with multi-million pound players in each squad. We are not a team that was going to be fighting for the play-offs in the first year after promotion. It was always going to be tough. "But the players have the belief they can do it and so do the staff. We have not set targets but, if you look at previous seasons, it is usually about 50 points that gets it (survival). I don't think it will take as much this year but we have got to aim to get 50 points. That is 18 in the next 13 games. And winning the home games and beating the teams around us will be important." Last six games: Barnsley LWWLLL, Hull WLDLLD. Referee: AP D'Urso (Essex).
