Stendel bemoans Barnsley’s lack of cutting edge against Walsall

Posted Sunday, September 09, 2018 by PA

Barnsley manager Daniel Stendel bemoaned his side’s lack of a clinical edge as they were held at home to a 1-1 draw by Walsall, with both sides maintaining their unbeaten Sky Bet League One records.

Walsall had the best chance to go ahead in the 14th minute as Nicky Devlin’s cross found Morgan Ferrier but his header was saved superbly by Jack Walton.

The home side had the better of the second half and they took the lead in the 55th minute.

A short corner found Alex Mowatt in the box and he crossed to half-time substitute Victor Adeboyejo who bundled the ball home from four yards.

Walsall equalised against the run of play in the 88th minute through second-half substitute Andy Cook. George Dobson found Cook in the box and he fired home from seven yards.

Stendel said: “I’m disappointed that we didn’t take all three points. We have to win the game because we had three good chances in the second half to score.

“It’s frustrating that we didn’t manage to win the game but I think the performance is promising for the future.

“I would’ve been happy with seven games unbeaten at the start of the season but I’m still angry that we couldn’t win at home for our fans today.

“When you are in front with two minutes to go, it is frustrating me that we couldn’t win but we played against a good team today.”

Stendel also believes his side should have had a penalty in the first half for a foul on Mike Bahre.

He explained: “I couldn’t really see the incident but from my position I think it should be a penalty.

“We have more time to train together as a squad this week so I hope that we come back fresh with added motivation to beat Coventry next week.”

Walsall manager Dean Keates was upbeat and also felt his side could have taken all three points.

He said: “I think a point is no less than we deserved today, we were organised, we stuck to the game plan and we created opportunities.

“We probably could have gone 1-0 up in the first minute of the second half, so it’s disappointing to get caught out from a set-piece.

“After that, they put us under a lot of pressure so we had to gamble to get the equaliser. They could’ve scored but I think today their final ball wasn’t good enough.

“We’re happy with our start to the season, it could be better but it could be a lot worse. We’ll take the positives from it, these are one of the division’s favourites and if I’m honest we went toe-to-toe with them today.

“If we take our chances early on, we could’ve come away with a victory but overall I think it’s a fair result.”