Valerien Ismael says his side gave Bournemouth 'very strong help' as Barnsley were beaten 4-0 at home on a 'bad night.'

The visitors scored twice in each half, showing their quality but also exploiting errors by the Reds.

Head coach Ismael told the Chronicle: "It was a bad night, with the weather and with our performance. I said before the game and after the games against Blackburn and Birmingham, we are making too many mistakes and the opponents punish us.

"In the first half, we played well, we created a lot of situations and pressed well but we made mistakes which destroyed our chances to win the game.

"We will analyse the game but we won't be over-critical. This is a normal process and we are, in the table, in the position we should be. If we want to reach the next step, we have to improve in this area with the mistakes.

"I told the guys we have to accept we are a young team that is developing. When you have so many games in a season, it could be possible that you have a night like tonight.

"It was also a little bit of tiredness because the last per cent was not there to win the ball and shift through like in the last two games. But that is part of the game and we knew this might happen."

Bournemouth went top of the league with the win but were gifted at least two of their goals by poor defending from the Reds.

Ismael said: "Bournemouth is, for me, one of the best teams in the league but tonight I don't have the feeling that they were much better than us. It was more that top teams punish you. Bournemouth is a top team but we gave them very strong help."

Defender Michael Sollbauer told the Chronicle: "It was a very difficult night. We as a team are really upset and I am personally very very disappointed. It wasn't our way of playing. We made too many easy mistakes and we have to avoid this if we want to step on in the table.

"To be fair, Bournemouth are really good and they played really well and they showed us if you give them too many easy opportunities, they take them.

"In a game like this, we have to say very clearly that we weren't good enough for the Championship with the mistakes we made. It won't help if we say we were little unlucky or anything else. It is hard to say that but we need to learn and avoid these mistakes.

"In some parts of the game, we were good and we had some opportunities to score the equaliser but, in the end, it was not enough.

"We can't just say 'let's move on to the next game' we have to reflect on those mistakes and how to stop them. Now we can take the weekend to rest and reflect then we come back to training and I am pretty sure we will show a better performance on Wednesday against Wycombe."

Ismael took off centre-back Michal Helik at 3-0 and brought on Aapo Halme. He said: "It was the possibility to see Aapo, that was more the decision than against Michal. I wanted to try Aapo and think about the next game maybe because I wanted to see Aapo in a game a little bit longer."

Barnsley now have a five-day break before hosting Wycombe Wanderers on Wednesday. Ismael said: "We don't have time to time to be down, you can't be too euphoric when you win and you can't be depressed when you lose.

"I am happy that we have enough time to recover and get a fresher head for the next game. We have to find a balance between recovering and preparing on the training pitch. We have had three games in six days and now we have another three in seven days. Now we have to take breath, we have two days off and we come back next week with new focus, a new mentality and better choice on the pitch and better decision-making."