Darrell Clarke said the FA Cup loss to Bristol Rovers ‘hurt’ as he was once again left exasperated by Barnsley’s inability to finish chances.
The Reds had 30 shots in the 0-0 draw over 120 minutes, missing some big opportunities, then lost 4-3 on penalties.
Clarke told the Chronicle: “The game is about finishing chances. You could use the recording from the other night (a home draw with Reading). It’s very frustrating. We dominated the ball and created a lot of chances but we are not doing what we are supposed to be doing in the final third has cost us.
“The result hurts and I am gutted to be out of the cup. How do we not win? The reason is we’re not good enough in the final third. I am angry but I need to assess it. Probably when I watch it back it will be even more frustrated. Whether it be our final pass or shot we just didn’t do it right.”
Usual penalty-taker Adam Phillips hit the post with the first spot-kick then Josh Earl saw the last saved. Clarke said: “It should never have got to penalties. We practised them yesterday and there was no stone unturned to try to win the game. But it’s not the penalties that disappoint me, it’s that we didn’t capitalise on our dominance.”
Player Georgie Gent added: “It’s a hard one to take and a bitter pill. I think it’s criminal how we’ve lost that game. We dominated from start to finish and created loads of chances. The lads know it.
“The gaffer has told us we have to be more ruthless in front of goal and he’s right. We can’t score at the minute but I think there will be a game where we score loads against someone. We just have to keep training and working hard.”
Barnsley also now have an extra 30 minutes in their legs ahead of a trip to high-flying Wrexham, who did not play this weekend, on Tuesday in the league.
Clarke said: “It is what it is. I tried to freshen it up. The players who started missed a lot of chances. The players who came on missed a lot of chances. You try to have Tuesday on your mind but I wanted to win the cup tie. We didn’t do it and we should have done. No one wants hard luck stories so we go again.”
