Barnsley boss Paul Heckingbottom rues red card as Fulham pick up late win

Posted Sunday, January 28, 2018 by PA

Barnsley head coach Paul Heckingbottom was made to rue a red card as his team slipped to a late 3-1 defeat against Fulham at Oakwell.

Liam Lindsay gave Barnsley the lead in the first half but Dimitri Cavare’s red card for a shove on Stefan Johansen on the stroke of half-time changed the game.

Ryan Sessegnon scored just four minutes into the second half before the visitors grabbed all three points in stoppage time.

Skipper Kevin McDonald scored a scrappy goal before Sessegnon got in on the act again by adding his second of the game with almost the last kick of the game.

Heckingbottom said: “They say you get what you deserve – we didn’t deserve to win.

“Lots of things I was really pleased with and that’s what we’re going to focus on. I’m really pleased with lots of individuals and the team as a group. There’s always things we can be better at.

“Sending offs happen – you still have to see the game out. We’ll focus on what went right, and what individuals did right.

“We know how good Fulham are, everyone is finding that out now in this league.

“Everyone has to take credit for the first half. But you’re never going to go into a game-plan with 10 men. When you’ve got 10 it’s tough.

“There’s reasons why they scored. Forget that third goal – that was us trying to get an equaliser in the dying seconds.

“Before that I couldn’t see them scoring. If it was it was going to be something from range. It was just unfortunate we couldn’t get the win.”

Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic commented: “We didn’t find enough pace in the ball, they pressed us very strong.

“We didn’t adapt ourselves, we didn’t find the best way to play.

“They scored one goal – it was probably a foul. In the rules some books say when you touch the keeper in the six-yard box this is a foul – in the end it’s a situation where Marcus Bettinelli can’t move.

“Definitely the second yellow card was important.

“We try to find a solution and fortunately in injury time we found the goal.

“We are thinking about the next game – to try and win the game. We can be satisfied at the moment.

“We arrived last season in the top six and played (in the) play-offs but nobody is guaranteed anything. We need to keep going and be focused and push hard.”