Darrell Clarke admitted his side were ‘flat’ and ‘loose with the ball’ for most of their 1-1 draw with Stockport County, but added they were denied a ‘stonewall penalty’ just after the late equaliser.
Adam Phillips’ fourth-minute penalty was cancelled out in the second minute of stoppage time by Louie Barry’s deflected effort, but the Reds had been on the back foot for most of the game after a blistering first ten minutes.
Head coach Clarke told the Chronicle: “It’s a cruel way to concede. But we didn’t get the attacking element of our game going as well as I would have liked. Stockport kept putting more attacking players on. I thought we defended our box really really well but it wasn’t to be.
“We had a great start. It was a good move that gets the penalty. But we were flat after that.
“We created one or two bits of quality but our midfield had an off day with the ball which is unusual. We didn’t get the control.
“We had a chance with Barry Cotter but we defended a lot. We were very loose with the ball. We have to get better. The effort and commitment is there but we need to get better with passing and cohesion, and keeping attacks flowing. Most of the time when they had chances it was through our mistakes.”
Barnsley thought they should have had a penalty after the equaliser when Kyran Lofthouse appeared to be taken out by Ibou Touray in the box on 96 minutes.
Clarke said: “It looks a stonewall penalty. Kyran is going to tap it into an empty net and the lad takes him out. You get those decisions sometimes but we move on.”
Clarke made a triple change on 58 minutes, bringing off Davis Keillor-Dunn and Stephen Humphries as well as Matty Craig, with Sam Cosgrove, Aiden Marsh and Josh Benson coming on.
The head coach said: “We needed fresh impetus. It was Humphs’ first start for I don’t know how long and Keillor-Dunn has missed training. Those two will get fitter. I wanted more energy after a quiet start to the second half.”
Clarke admitted the disappointing performance was typical of his sixth-placed team so far this season. He said: “It’s bitty. We’re grafting and fighting in a tough league. We’re up and amongst it early doors. It feels like a couple of points dropped tonight. But we have to keep positive and keep trying to get better.”
Donovan Pines came off the bench after concussion while Fabio Jalo was an unused substitute after hurting his shoulder again in the previous game. Clarke said: “Jalo popped his shoulder but he’s got new strapping on and we need to manage it.”
Clarke added that Max Watters is ‘a couple of weeks away.’
