Darrell Clarke dubbed Barnsley’s Tuesday defeat at Charlton Athletic ‘a frustrating night’ as their three-match winning run ended and the injuries mounted.

The Reds conceded a poor goal from an early free-kick then barely had a chance after the opening 20 minutes. They remain tenth, six points off the top six.

Clarke said: “It was a frustrating night. I thought we played some decent stuff in the first half without that final cutting edge. DKD (Davis Keillor-Dunn) has a great opportunity he works for himself. We concede from an error and everyone can see the problems that we had. The lads looked a bit leggy, we’ve got injury problems and we couldn’t find the equaliser.

“It’s a tough place to come, even tougher when you’re on the back of four games in ten days with three away games. We won’t over-analyse it. We’re disappointed but we have to focus on the next one.

“We will try to pick up as many points as we can in the last quarter of the season.”

Asked if it was a game too far for his team, Clarke said: “I think so. Everyone will have an opinion on that. I don’t like looking for excuses but you can see what we’re carrying at the minute. I would probably have taken three wins in these four games. It’s a disappointing and frustrating night but we have to respond.”

Josh Earl and Adam Phillips picked up injuries in the game, adding to a growing list with Georgie Gent confirmed as out for the season.

Clarke said: “The list mounts but we can’t become victims. We have to patch ourselves up and get a team out for Saturday ready to respond.”

Clarke praised young defender Connor Barratt who came off the bench for Earl.

“He’s been thrown in the deep end. We have no balance with no left-footed centre halves. He did himself credit and that’s pleasing. He didn’t look out of place.”

Defender Conor McCarthy added: “We’re very frustrated. There were a couple of harsh words after the game. There was nothing in the game but we conceded a sloppy goal and, with the record they have here, it was always going to be hard to come back and take all three points.

“For the ball to go under the wall and into the goal is not great all around. It was definitely preventable but that’s football.”