BACK on home turf, Phil Parkinson wants Wanderers to take out their frustrations from the defeat at Wolves on Barnsley.

The Whites travelled to Molineux hopeful of upsetting the table-toppers, having not lost in seven games.

But, with his side sent away downcast after a 5-1 hammering, and with an FA charge hanging over him for a brief touchline altercation with opposite number Nuno Espirito Santo, it was an afternoon Parkinson would rather forget. Not least because the incident that sparked their minor set-to saw David Wheater booked for a ban-inducing fifth time.

And, with the dust having settled on that dour day in the West Midlands, Parkinson is convinced his team was hard done by, and that Barnsley will feel the full force of their reaction today.

“In patches we played okay against Wolves,” he said. “I was probably more disappointed at 3-1 that we over-committed a bit and left ourselves vulnerable and exposed to the fourth and fifth when there was no need to. It made the scoreline look a lot worse than it should have.

“I have had a good reaction from the lads, though, and now we are looking at what team to go with. The onus is on us to continue playing the way we have in the last few weeks at home – Sheffield Wednesday, QPR, Norwich and Reading.

“It’s a continuation of that, taking the quality we showed in those games and taking them into the Barnsley game.”

Wanderers slumped back to 24th spot last weekend, thanks to Sunderland beating – and climbing above – the other side in the bottom three, Burton Albion. With a seven-point gap between his side and the 18th-placed Tykes, Parkinson knows they have to begin closing in on clubs hovering above the drop-zone, to crank up the pressure on them as well as opening up the fight to avoid relegation.

“Eight games ago people had completely written us off,” he added. “I have to reiterate that Wolves was always going to be a tough game – I’m not saying there were not aspects of the game which we need to improve, but I do think there is a bit of perspective needed.

“We have to work hard to pull teams back towards us and we’ve got a massive opportunity against Barnsley this weekend.

“We have got to make sure it does not end up a four-team race. If we can beat teams a bit further up the table it can extend the battle.

“Eight games ago we’d have taken being in contention, now I want us to start another run and start pulling a few more teams into trouble.”