JOSH Earl says Barnsley’s players are ‘devastated’ for injured defender Donovan Pines but believes they have the quality in the squad to replace him.
Pines, who joined in the January transfer window along with Earl, played four games before being ruled out for the season with a thigh injury which required surgery. Earl told the Chronicle: “We are devastated for him.
“His personality will be infectious while he’s injured. He’s a brilliant lad and he’s always smiling and bubbly.
“By the start of next season he will be ready to go again.
“It’s not like we’ve not got enough quality to come in and take his place.
“Jamie (McCart) has been brilliant as well. We have got the players to come in and show themselves. They will do because they have enough quality.”
Earl joined from relegation-battling Fleetwood Town and is hoping for the first promotion of his professional career. He said: “I am enjoying being near the top but you get used to it and you want to be up there even more. It’s as disappointing for me as for anyone when we have a bad result. I came here wanting to push for promotion.”
Barnsley have conceded early goals often in recent months. Earl said: “It’s definitely something I have been thinking about. As a defender you don’t want that. But a lot of the goals that I can think of have been little individual errors and sloppy mistakes, not things we’re doing wrong as a team. I have been at fault for one or two, everyone probably has. We need to fix it ASAP.
“I completely understand why the fans are disappointed. We are as well.”
The opener on Friday against Cambridge saw Mael de Gevigney’s back pass evade Liam Roberts and go in.
“Sometimes it just happens. Both of them have pulled us out of the rubble loads of times. After that we had enough chances. Maybe we lacked quality at times. We were by far the better team. It’s just the two goals are rubbish. They scored with their two chances.”
