It's not often a manager cites Albert Einstein's theory of insanity and the work ethic of Phil "The Power" Taylor as major influences but given that in recent weeks he has one of the best records in the country, David Flitcroft deserves listening to with respect.
Of the six matches they have played since his caretaker status as successor to the previous manager, Keith Hill, was lifted, Barnsley have won five and drawn one. Throw in his last game as caretaker, a trouncing of Leeds United, and it is six wins out of seven. What is more, those games have been won stylishly, as the 39-year-old former lower-league defender has introduced a 3-5-2 system which at times – such as during the first half of this game – has had the Barnsley fans reviving their Premier League chant of "It's just like watching Brazil".
They gave themselves a cushion during the first half through a classy goal by Chris Dagnall and then a well-constructed move that ended with Marlon Harewood sweeping the ball home. But they needed it during a second half in which their League One opponents shook themselves out of an admiring lethargy to make a rumbustious and incident-packed Cup tie out of it. In the end, Barnsley overcame an unnerving injury to Kelvin Etuhu – a clash of heads left the wing-back bloodied and for several minutes unresponsive before coming round on a stretcher – before making the game safe with a smart break and finish by Dagnall.
Bearing in mind that six weeks ago Barnsley looked certain to be relegated – even now they are still in the relegation zone – how has Flitcroft wrought such a transformation?
Well, he said, by being creative. Before this match, for instance, he took his squad to Doncaster to watch their league game against MK Dons, which was followed by a classroom session in which every player was invited to contribute. "I am asking them to sacrifice," Flitcroft said. "Otherwise it's Einstein's theory [of insanity], keeping doing the same thing yet somehow expecting different results. Anybody that has been successful, whether in business, Olympians, footballers, Phil "The Power" Taylor, the one thing they have sacrificed is time – time away from their families.
"This group is doing this and we will do it again. We are not going home tonight, we are going back to a hotel and we will do a presentation on Wolves. We will be staying up into the early hours to plan an assault on Wolves. All Sunday my players will be with the football club and not their families."
Such is the esprit de corps he is looking to foster, Flitcroft felt he had no choice but to intervene when he perceived an MK Dons fan to be gesturing at one of his players in the second half in what he alleged to be a racist manner, asking a steward to remove the individual.
The clubs issued a joint statement confirming the incident had been investigated by Thames Valley police, but that while CCTV was still being examined, there was no evidence the alleged gesture had been racist in character.
Barnsley's goalkeeper and captain, Luke Steele, said it is hard to pinpoint a single reason for their change in fortunes. "Going to Doncaster last Tuesday, it was freezing and by far the worst game I've ever seen, but he wanted us to see how MK Dons played. We'd never played against them. He said if we could get 1% each out of the game, something to learn from going into this game, then it would have worked. I got more than 1% and I think a lot of the lads did."
Man of the match Jacob Mellis (Barnsley)
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