Barnsley head coach Paul Heckingbottom reckons his side grafted for their win after they defeated Burton Albion 4-2 on Tuesday night.

The Tykes were pegged back twice in the first-half by a stubborn Brewers side, before Joe Williams' second-half wonderstrike put the visitors on course for a vital win over a fellow relegation-threatened side.

Harvey Barnes rounded off the scoring in the 87th minute, with the Brewers suffering a fourth straight home loss and falling two points clear of safety as a result.

And while Barnsley native Heckingbottom knew to expect a dogged performance from the Brewers, he says his side were good value for their win.

"Listen, I've just been speaking to everyone about it in there," Heckingbottom said of his side's performance.

"All Sunday, all Monday, all we spoke about was how tough it was going to be.

"No-one's come away (from the Pirelli Stadium) with a win without earning it, and that's what we expected.

"We came up with Burton, fought them again last season and nothing's changed.

Barnsley head coach Paul Heckingbottom applauds the travelling faithful at the Pirelli Stadium
Barnsley head coach Paul Heckingbottom applauds the travelling faithful at the Pirelli Stadium

"They're still a really tough side, they make you earn everything and we knew it would be that way."

"Burton make you fight so hard. Putting balls into your box, very organised in their throw-ins - they work everything so they can always get a delivery into the box.

"And then they've got bodies in there, and so for us to not track runners twice, we paid the price and made the game really difficult for ourselves."

Williams' 73rd-minute effort - a curling left-footed 30-yard strike - gave Barnsley the lift they needed and Burton's heads dropped in the process.

Heckingbottom reckons it was a well-needed intervention that sparked his side into life, and enabled them to kill the game.

"I was just about to let him have one, shooting with his left foot from there," he added.

"It was a first real moment of quality in the game if I'm honest. it was a war of attrition until then.

"We were really disappointed with the two goals we conceded, not tracking runners.

Harvey Barnes celebrates putting Barnsley 4-2 up against Burton Albion

"I felt just before Joe's goal we settled down, we stood up against everything but we didn't really show any quality, we just sort of settled down.

"We made a few passes, got our full-backs on the ball more which pulled their wing-backs out which meant we could get to our wingers.

"But the goal was out of nothing and it deflated Burton a bit and when we got the fourth it was a comfortable ten minutes in the end."