Hill repays loyalty of Robins by signing Barnsley deal

The 29-year-old yesterday agreed a deal to stay at Oakwell at least until the end of the season after having already had two spells on loan from Wolves.

Hill, whose contract at Molineux was cancelled by mutual consent, said: "I am delighted to be joining Barnsley until the end of the season. I have been very impressed with the players and coaching staff since joining on loan and the team spirit is fantastic.

"Mark Robins stood by me when I picked up an injury two games into my loan spell, so despite having offers from other Championship clubs I wanted to repay his loyalty by signing to Barnsley."

Hill joined the Reds in November only to head back to the West Midlands with injury. He returned at the start of January on a one-month loan deal and has since made six appearances and netted his first goal for the club in the 2-1 win over Coventry on January 3.

Robins has hailed new signing Danny Haynes after his first goals for the club secured victory against Doncaster Rovers, whose supporters have been urged to 'keep the faith' by assistant manager Richard O' Kelly.

Haynes, a 200,000 capture from Bristol City, scored both goals in a 2-0 win and lifted Barnsley above Rovers in the Championship.

"If you are going to make a name for yourself early on in your career, there's no better way to do it than to score two goals that turn out to be the margin between two sides in a local derby," said Robins.

"He's a raw talent but he is a talent and that just settles him down. He can play wide but he can also play down the middle. In the second half, both he and Garry O'Connor were excellent. Hopefully, this victory will give us a boost and a lift we need in the up-coming fixtures."

Defender Stephen Foster is likely to miss tomorrow's trip to Millwall after suffering a gash to his thigh which required seven stitches.

Four defeats in a row have put pressure on Rovers manager Sean O'Driscoll and there were jeers at the end of the home defeat.

Rovers are sliding towards the relegation zone but O'Driscoll's No 2 O'Kelly remains confident that results will improve.

"All professional sportsmen have ups and downs but the good news is we have been here before, the players have been here before, and we have come through it before," he said.

"It is a bit of a test but if life was always easy, and if this job was easy, I suppose anyone could do it. We think we know what we are doing. It's been proved before. So keep the faith."

Rovers are without a game this weekend due to their FA Cup exit at the hands of Wolves but host Burnley next Tuesday.

"Any run of losses can be damaging if you leave it," said O'Kelly. "There are an awful lot of things that we are doing right and if you start panicking and throw the baby out with the bath water, all sorts of things can happen."

O'Kelly says the target has always been survival and says 17 points from 21 games will be enough.

Defenders James Chambers (hamstring) and Matthew Kilgallon (back) and midfielder Mark Wilson (hamstring) limped off with injuries against Barnsley.