Adam Murray is disappointed that Barnsley could not keep hold of their 2-0 lead at Championship leaders West Bromwich Albion but believes performances like that will keep the Reds up this season.
The visitors were two goals ahead at half-time but were pegged back and remain bottom of the division. Murray said: “We’ll take the point and move on to Saturday but, I am not going to lie, there is a part of me that is a little bit gutted that we didn’t get all three. We came here to win the game. We have watched a lot of teams come to these top boys and sit back then get beaten 4-0. “I have to give credit to our players - the workrate, the energy, the mindset to keep attacking was fantastic and they are dead on their feet in the changing room and rightly so.
“It’s an unbelievable group of players. Everything everyone says is they are young and they run for each other but they forget to say they are really good players. I think the players believe that now. If they put in the performances that we did against Swansea and West Brom for the rest of the season, keeping that confidence and belief, these guys will be fine.”
Cauley Woodrow got both Barnsley’s goals. Murray said: “He’s outstanding. You don’t find many strikers like him nowadays who play off instinct and don’t just pop up in the six-yard box. His link-up play is really good. He’s a top Championship player and an incredible person with fantastic morals.
“When you have someone like Cauley on the pitch, he is always capable of doing that. We have people around him who can supply him with chances and, if he gets half a yard, he will hit the net and he is unlucky not to have a hat-trick.”
Woodrow added: “It’s a bit disappointing but they are top and we are bottom so everyone probably wrote us off and we got a real valuable point. I think my second goal was better. The first was a nice cross from Dimi (Cavare) and a good header then the second one was a nice bit of play and I managed to stick it away. You have to stay switched on all the time. Our concentration slipped and they scored.
“West Brom are the best team we have played this season and they struggled massively against us. That’s really positive and shows we are going in the right direction.”
Bambo Diaby scored an own goal to make it 2-1. Murray said: “He’s gutted. I just said to him and the guys ‘pick your chins up off the floor because there are no answers on the floor’. The spirit and effort we showed was outstanding and that’s got us two points in really difficult games. He is gutted but if you are gutted after getting a point at West Brom, you are doing something right.
“When you concede goals like that it is harder to take. For all the good play they had, they didn’t break us down and we conceded from two crosses. As a footballer, when you are physically tired it is hard not to get mentally tired. We switched off for split second and, when you do that in this league, you get punished.”
Defender Aapo Halme missed the match with injury and was replaced by Mads Andersen. Murray said: “Before the international break he had a bit of a calf injury then, on Saturday when he smashed into Kenny (Dougall), he fell over and his calf and ankle flared up. He had a fitness test this morning and wanted to play but we didn’t want to risk it and I thought Mads was outstanding.”
