Conor Hourihane was pleased with how Barnsley finished their 1-1 home draw with lowly Cambridge United on Saturday and the performance of their young players.

The Reds conceded an early goal then levelled in injury-time through substitute Jon Lewis.

Hourihane, who was in the Oakwell diugout for the first time as interim head coach, told the Chronicle: “It was good how we finished. We kept at it and kept going. It’s something to build on.

“We were going to have to be patient. The early goal killed the plan a bit because they sat back deeper. It was a really poor goal to concede.

“We changed to a back four to get dribblers on and get at them.

“90 per cent of the crowd stayed and clapped because we showed some balls, dribbled past people and attacked and that’s all these people want to see. I know that more than anyone.”

Hourihane praised the young players including full league debutant Kieren Flavell, Jonathan Bland who made his league debut off the bench at right wing-back and forward Fabio Jalo who returned from injury.

“The young lads were brilliant. Kieren showed exactly why I didn’t want to bring another goalkeeper in. He was really, really good.

“Blandy, a little bit out of position, was brilliant - he took the ball, excited me, made mistakes but no problem, he got on with it.

“Fabio does what he does - excited people and got them on the edge of their seats.

“The club has history of academy players coming through and it was refreshing.

“I have told the older lads we need to see more of that from them.”

American Lewis scored the leveller on his third substitute appearance after signing as a free agent in February.

Hourihane said: “It’s brilliant for Jon. Credit to him for being in there attacking the back stick. There were a couple of balls that flashed past the post and there was no one in there. It’s a dangerous cross by Fab.

“Jon has not had that rhythm since he’s been here. I was working hard with them both during the week and they have taken the opportunities.”

Hourihane’s two games in charge have seen the Reds lose at off-form Mansfield, after two training sessions with the squad, then a home draw with the second-bottom side.

He said: “Mansfield was a free hit because it was chaotic for two days but of course it’s a bad result. Today I wanted to see more from them than they showed but I would have been really disappointed if they chucked it in towards the end. They kept going and deserved a point.”

Hourihane said he wasn’t sure if Barnsley should have had a penalty for a handball by his former Barnsley team-mate Paul Digby but was more annoyed there were only three minutes added at the end.

Flavell said: “We deserved the equaliser. Cambridge came with one plan and rightly so because they are down there fighting. We had to be patient but you could sense in the crowd the chance would come and thankfully we got a point. It’s not the result we wanted but a point is a point.”