Barnsley: Burton draw felt like a defeat admits Reds boss despite extending unbeaten runs

Daniel Stendel manager of Barnsley. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)

The Reds stretched their current unbeaten run to 13 in the league and haven’t lost at Oakwell since last March - a sequence of 21 without loss on home soil.

But the Barnsley head coach felt his side could have had two extra points, had they taken one of several good first-half opportunities.

“The players in the dressing room have the feeling that we’ve lost this game,” said Stendel following the goalless draw.

“We wanted to win and we tried a lot of things to score. In the second half, we played too complicated and had too many poor balls and passes. “I’m disappointed after this game. We didn’t have too many chances to win this game. The first half, we had two or three good chances to score. I think we could have won the game.”

The hardest Burton goalkeeper Bradley Collins had to work came on 18 minutes, as he punched Cauley Woodrow’s 18th-minute drive away from the top corner. Whilst Barnsley dominated possession, signs of second-half attempts to trouble the Brewers’ ‘keeper faded as the game wore on.

“I think it’s difficult to play every time at a high level and it’s normal that we cannot play like this every time,” continued Stendel. “I think today we missed a little bit of freshness and we have three days to recover and Saturday we can play well. “I’m disappointed but not dissatisfied because the players have played very well this past few weeks and are unbeaten in 13 games - it’s okay. We wanted to win but I’m very proud of my team over the last few weeks and performances.

“We’ve played better but we did not score. We will take one point more and Saturday is the next game at Portsmouth.” The Reds are now preparing for a trip to fourth-placed Portsmouth on Saturday, aiming to keep up with league-leaders Luton, who are five points clear of Stendel’s men.

“We are really looking forward to every game,” added the head coach. “We need a little bit of time to recover from this game.

“We have a big chance on Saturday to increase (points gap with Portsmouth) to eight points. It’s a big chance and then we have a home game against Sunderland, so we have enough chances to achieve our goal.”