Barnsley 1 Nottingham Forest 0: Wilson hails players and fans after big win

Wilson had promised a reaction from his players following their derby thumping, and he was delighted to see victory secured through Dale Jennings’s 51st-minute strike.

“It was not only the win that was important to us, I think the performance and giving something back to the fans was a major, major priority for us,” he said.

“We didn’t see the true us last week. Over the last few months we’ve showed better resilience than we did last week but I think we went a long way to putting it right.

“We responded very, very well and I have to say the fans were as good as we were (on Saturday); absolutely top class, getting behind us.

“I think the last 20 minutes was a little bit nervy but the fans didn’t show the nerves, they just got behind us and drove us through it, so it was a great team effort from the fans and the players.

“At the end, when they’re throwing everything at us, we had to defend resolutely and I think everybody did, not just the back four.

“But I will say again and I want to emphasise it; the fans were absolutely brilliant and that was a great atmosphere at the end.”

Wideman Jennings fired into the bottom left-hand corner from the edge of the area for his first Tykes goal to lift Barnsley off the bottom of the table, two points from the safety line.

Forest, who remain in fifth place after the narrow defeat, went closest when Algerian winger Djamel Abdoun hit a first-half shot which thumped off the base of the right-hand post.

Nottingham Forest assistant manager David Kelly said: “We just couldn’t get the elusive goal, we tried to change the formation, trying to get it forward a little bit quicker. I’m just a little bit disappointed we couldn’t break them down, they defended for their lives.

“It was a cup final atmosphere, the crowd was absolutely jumping. We deserved at least a point, if not all three. You need a bit of fortune sometimes.”

Barnsley: Steele, Hunt, Ramag e, Cranie, Kennedy, Dawson, Woods (Frimpong 77), O’Brien (Lawrence 90), Mellis, Jennings, O’Grady. Unused substitutes: Nyatanga, Proschwitz, Cywka, Turner, McCourt.

Nott’m Forest: Darlow, Halford (Moussi 75), Lascelles, Gomis, Fox, Jara, Majewski, Mackie (Henderson 58), Paterson, Abdoun, Cox (Derbyshire 70). Unused substitutes: Harding, Collins, Greening, De Vries.

Referee: Keith Stroud (Hampshire).

Man of the match: Dale Jennings.