Neill Collins rued Barnsley’s second half performance in their 2-1 EFL Trophy loss at Blackpool on Tuesday and is ‘very disappointed’ to be out of all the cups.
The Reds took the lead through John McAtee but conceded twice early in the second half.
Collins told the Chronicle: “The first half was very positive and we deserved to be ahead.
“If anything we could have been further ahead with the opportunities we had. I wouldn’t say the second half was totally opposite but we looked stretched and sloppy. We still had opportunities but we were certainly way off where we should be.
“It’s really disappointing. We put ourselves in control and I didn’t see anything to suggest we would lose at half-time. Blackpool improved, we gave away cheap goals and didn’t take our chances.”
Barnsley are now out of all three cups after fielding an ineligible player in the FA Cup, having lost in the EFL Cup in August.
“I am really disappointed to be out of the cups. I have spoken enough about the FA Cup. We came here to win and I thought we would, so losing 2-1 with a poor second half gives us some things to think about. We have to move on quickly because we have big game in the league on Saturday.”
McAtee came off injured at half-time and was replaced by Max Watters who missed a big chance seconds into the second half.
Collins said: “It was a great opportunity. It’s part and parcel of the game. He’s not the only one who had chances. Sam (Cosgrove) could have had a couple of goals.”
Centre-back Kacper Lopata returned to the team after two months out with injury. He came off after 58 minutes and was replaced by Jordan Williams, who was beaten in the air for the second goal.
Did McAtee and Lopata going off change the game?
Collins said: “John coming off made more of an impact than we expected. It shouldn’t have.
Kacper was on when we conceded the first goal. He showed a lot of positive signs but he looked leggy at the start of the second half and that’s why we had to make the change. I don’t think that change affected the match because we saw signs that ran through the second half prior to that.”
Lopata said: “We became sloppy, disjointed, the spaces got bigger and that’s how they created their chances. In the first half we dominated and they couldn’t break us down then we lost discipline in the second half.
“It’s very disappointing to be out of the cup, especially when we played that well in the first half. In the second half we had the chance to go 2-0 up. Football gets decided in both boxes. We weren’t good enough in the end.”
Barnsley started with three natural centre-backs after using Williams in the back three in the league.
“It’s definitely an option. It’s one of the reasons we had a look at it. Jordan Williams brings different aspects. Kacper is a different profile. We have to be prepared for injuries and different types of games.”
