Barnsley head coach Daniel Stendel was ’satisfied’ with the 1-1 derby draw at home to Doncaster Rovers who he praised for their performance.
The Reds admitted his side’s standards dipped from previous displays and was relieved that the visitors missed their several late chances to win it. Stendel said: “In the end, we can be satisfied with the draw. I have to compliment Doncaster because they played very well. We played good, but not good enough to get the win.
“We cannot play very, very well like we did in our last games. We played OK, we go a point and we move on. For ten minutes after we scored I thought we could win but then a lot of players forgot how to defend and Doncaster had a lot of chances.
“Ethan Pinnock and Liam Lindsay defended very well and Adam Davies made an amazing save right at the end.”
Stendel seemed to suggest that some of his players had Tuesday’s trip to Sunderland on their minds during the game. He said: “Maybe the players had the Sunderland game on Tuesday in their heads. Maybe they think ‘we win this game’ in their head. It’s normal.”
Barnsley’s goal came from Cauley Woodrow, minutes after he came off the bench having been dropped despite scoring two in two following his return from injury. Stendel said: “I am happy not only for Cauley but for the team. We have a good squad, not just a good 11. He had a long injury and we have a lot of important games coming up. We want him to be healthy for the next games. We don’t want him to play too many games in a short time.”
Goalkeeper and captain Adam Davies made a superb save from James Coppinger with the final action of the match. Davies said: “It was nice to make the save with a couple of seconds left. I just thought ‘move your feet across the goal as quick as you can and make yourself as big as you can’. They are the big moments which people talk about. I am glad I pulled it out the bag today to get the draw for us.
“Both the centre-backs (Pinnock and Lindsay) were absolutely fantastic to play behind. The more they play together as a partnership the better they get.”
Davies was disappointed with the overall performance. He said: “We were nowhere near our best today. But to still come from behind to get a point shows we have got a bit of character. It’s never easy to get back in the game. We kept believing then Cauley came on and got the goal. We maybe could have come away with three points if we had a bit more care in the final third.
“It was probably a fair result. It could have gone either way. It was a high-intensity game which was enjoyable to play in.”
Grant McCann, the former Barnsley midfielder, is in charge of Doncaster. He said: “It was nice to come back to Barnsley, it’s a good club. It was a good derby and a good advert for League One football. I thought we deserved to win it but we’ll move on to the next game.”
