Barnsley boss Valerien Ismael praised his side after they climbed to 13th in the Sky Bet Championship following a 2-0 home victory over Nottingham Forest.

Callum Styles and Cauley Woodrow scored to win a difficult game for the Reds.

Woodrow hit the crossbar in the 11th minute when a through ball from Conor Chaplin found the Barnsley forward whose shot from outside of the box was denied by the frame of the goal.

Five minutes after Woodrow had hit the woodwork, it was Chaplin’s turn to fire onto the same spot of the crossbar as Barnsley piled on the early pressure.

Forest forward Lyle Taylor was a whisker away from his fourth goal of the season in the 59th minute. Walton produced another great save to keep out a strong header that looked destined to hit the net.

Barnsley hit the crossbar for a third time in the 72nd minute, with Woodrow unlucky not to score as luck continued to go against the hosts.

Styles broke the deadlock for Barnsley in the 85th minute with a thunderous strike that flew into the top corner as Brice Samba looked helpless.

A second goal for Barnsley secured all three points when Woodrow finally scored from the centre of the penalty box to make it four wins in five league games for the Reds.

Ismaël said: “It was not only about the win but the way we won the game.

“It was a good game from both teams. High intensity, very good quality on the pitch. The championship is a very big league.

“Our team was very strong today. We started very well and hit the crossbar twice.

“We were good in the first 30 minutes. We were lucky for sure in some situations but Jack Walton did his job.

“It’s a good feeling that all of the guys were focused on the performance and on what we needed to win the game.

“I am very happy with the five substitutions. It was very important for us today. The possibility to change what we needed and to keep the pressure until the end was very powerful.

“I felt that my team were willing to win. It was a 50-50 game. That’s why it’s very important to win such a game.

“A very big congratulations to my side. Today was a step forward for the team and that’s why it’s a very good day for us.”

Forest manager Chris Hughton said: “These are all tough games. On the balance of play, my opinion is that we were the better side.

“We created the better chances through normal play. If you don’t put your chances away then a good enough side like Barnsley can possibly capitalise on that.

“We haven’t played a bad team this season so far this season. Barnsley kept going and looked for their opportunities.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t happen for us today and it did for them. We’ve got to be scoring goals and if we’re not taking the opportunities then we continue to put that pressure on ourselves.

“There’s two ways of looking at it. The goalkeeper was either just that good, or our finishing should have been that little bit better. It’s probably a balance of both.

“We have to make sure from our point of view that we’re not allowing people to praise their goalkeeper. We would rather they were praising our player instead.”