Wycombe Wanderers 1 Barnsley 0: '˜Tired' display leaves Daniel Stendel baffled

Daniel Stendel was left searching for answers as Barnsley put in one of their worst displays of the season.
Daniel StendelDaniel Stendel
Daniel Stendel

The Reds were looking to reassert themselves in the League One promotion race after a defeat at Sunderland last time out.

But they fell short against a well-oiled Wycombe side, who are causing surprises this season.

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They were second best throughout and fell to Randell Williams' second half strike which sees Stendel's men fall six points adrift of the top two.

There have been defeats this season for the Reds, all of them away, but they have always competed well and been in the games.

That was not the case at Adams Park and left the German Stendel scratching his head.

"I have no explanation for this performance today,' said the Barnsley manager.

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'I'm not sure we played that badly but I don't know why we played how we did.

'We knew Wycombe would be strong from long balls and set-pieces, but they scored from a set-piece.

'We knew they would stop us getting space but we had the ball always on the halfway line and not enough near their goal. 

'We needed more power and more speed in our attack. We did not have a high enough tempo.

'My impression was that we were tired but I don't know why.

'Most of these players didn't play on Tuesday.

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'This team was fresh but not one player played at the level he can normally play at.'

Wycombe, who climb to ninth, dominated the match throughout and thought they should have had a penalty early on.

Cameron McGeehan challenged Alex Samuel, but Anthony Coggins waved the protests away.

Wycombe continued their dominance after the restart and took the lead 10 minutes after the restart, Williams volleying a loose ball from the edge of the area through the crowd and past Adam Davies.

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Barnsley put on more pressure as the game entered the final stages, but never came close to scoring until Ethan Pinnock's effort in the dying seconds went over the crossbar.

The Reds are entering a packed festive schedule and Stendel is expecting a response.

He said: 'December is a decisive month when we are playing a lot of teams at the top of the table and my task is to get us ready. I'm sure we will be.'