Gerhard Struber admits the draw at Luton Town was ‘not enough’ in Barnsley’s fight to stay in the Championship but says his side will keep battling.
The Reds levelled in the 84th minute through Aapo Halme and are third-bottom, two points from safety due to the 12-point deduction for Wigan Athletic who visit Oakwell on Saturday.
Head coach Struber told the Chronicle: “Everyone knows we need points and one point, in our situation, is maybe not enough. We had so many big chances, especially in the first half. We didn’t use our best chances and it is disappointing.
“We completely controlled the first half and had the game in our hands but we could not use that momentum. But it was a completely other team and mindset from the game at Stoke (a 4-0 loss on Saturday). Everyone showed me a very good performance but we need to score goals. The boys are not so happy."
Struber added: “I told my boys in the dressing room: our situation is the same and we have to fight until the last games. We have to pick up points in the next games. Our big goal was three points and, in the end, we have one.
“When we have a performance like today, it will be very very difficult for Wigan against us. My boys never give up and they fight until the last game.”
Barnsley struggled to create chances for most of the second half. Struber said: “They changed their shape to five at the back and, in the first 15 or 20 minutes of the second half, it was difficult. I changed to a 4-3-3 and we had more big chances. It was a good performance by my team with a very good attitude but we lost two points.”
Struber took off top-scorers Cauley Woodrow and Conor Chaplin with ten minutes left and brought on Patrick Schmidt and centre-back Halme, with the latter playing up front and scoring the leveller.
Struber: “They (Woodrow and Chaplin) had 80 minutes to score and had big chances but they didn’t use the chances. I had a feeling we needed a magic moment and Aapo took that magic moment. The subs made a good performance, especially Aapo. He is very tall and a good target man.”
Jack Walton made a superb one-on-one save at 1-1. Struber said: “It was very important. He had very good decision-making and timing and it was very helpful for the team.”
Young forward Elliot Simoes, who came off the bench and set up the leveller, said: “Everyone feels we deserved the win and we were on top of them. We know we have to stay together and we haven’t got time to put our heads down. We have to forget about the game and move on to Saturday.
“We showed a different attitude from Stoke. We had a fighting attitude and never gave up. It’s frustrating not to get the three points because we all felt we should have.”
