Stendel rewarded by keeping faith in Barnsley players

Posted Sunday, September 30, 2018 by PA

Barnsley head coach Daniel Stendel never doubted his players had the quality and power to beat Fleetwood as they fought back to win 3-1 at Highbury.

Barnsley had gone a goal behind as their former youth team player Harrison Biggins scored his first goal for Fleetwood in the 19th minute.

But 20-year-old Jacob Brown levelled just after the half hour mark with Kieffer Moore completing the fightback in the 42nd minute.

Substitute Mamadou Thiam made it 3-1 in injury time and Stendel was pleased with his side’s response.

He said: “They started well. We turned the match around. In the end we knew that we had more quality and more power to win the game.

“When we scored to make it 1-1 we had a lot of chances. We played composed and had more control and when we scored it was the next step to winning the game.

“In the second half it was difficult with the long balls from Fleetwood then we worked hard to stay in front and in the end Mama closed the game for us and I’m very happy.”

The Barnsley head coach was pleased that Brown repaid his faith to net his first career goal.

He said: “I’m very happy that he scored. He was very disappointed after the game at Coventry when he had three big chances to score.

“He is a young player and we gave him the trust and the chance to play in the first XI the next game and he repaid it.”

Joey Barton was left scratching his head as he believed his Fleetwood side were the better team on the day.

He said: “It is a real tough one. I thought we were absolutely outstanding for periods of the game.

“It was something we had been demanding of the lads and there was a small spell when we conceded two goals after starting fantastically well, scoring a great team goal. We let them off the hook really because, after the small spell which they had, two minutes of madness from us, we were the better side.

“To lose the game 3-1 you are scratching your head. We put big Cian Bolger up front (in the dying stages) and are chasing an equaliser.

“The levels of performance from the boys is where we needed to be we just need more savvy and more streetwise.”

It was the first time Barton has suffered back-to-back defeats in his managerial career.

The Town boss says he got the response he wanted from the 1-0 loss at Southend and now he wants his men to bounce back against Wycombe on Tuesday night.

He said: “We had the response from the setback at Southend, the great thing about this league is that the fixtures come thick and fast.

“We have got another tough fixture against Wycombe at home on Tuesday night so we are looking forward to it.”