Stendel praises substitute Thiam for goal in victory over Luton

Posted Saturday, October 13, 2018 by PA

Barnsley head coach Daniel Stendel praised Mamadou Thiam after the substitute scored a spectacular goal in his side’s 3-2 home win over Luton which moved them up to second in the League One table.

Thiam scored after 79 minutes and Stendel admitted he had been close to picking the striker as a starter.

Stendel said: “It was a very close decision to say he (Thiam) wasn’t in the starting line-up and I’m pleased he scored.

“You need to fight every week to start and it was a good signal from him. Cameron McGeehan was very motivated and played well.”

Stendel added: “It was a very good performance. We were the better team but it was also a close game. The performance from Luton was also good.

“We saw today that we played with different players and we can still win. It was a good experience for our team. All the players who came in did well.

“When we need more power and quality, we can substitute very good players.

“Normally we only play out of possession with a diamond. After 30 minutes, Luton changed their system and we changed also.”

Brad Potts opened the scoring in the fifth minute, driving forward and firing a low 20-yard drive beyond James Shea.

Barnsley continued to apply pressure with Dimitri Cavare seeing his shot hit the side-netting after taking a deflection and George Moncur shooting straight at Shea.

Luton’s James Collins thought he had equalised but an offside flag cut short his celebrations.

McGeehan (26) increased the home side’s lead, slotting the ball into the net after good work from Moncur, who laid the ball off to him.

Luton reduced the arrears in time added on at the end of the first half when Collins scored from the penalty spot after Ben Williams fouled Harry Cornick.

McGeehan went close when his header smacked against the bar but substitute Thiam (79) restored Barnsley’s two goal cushion, curling his shot inside Shea’s left hand post.

Collins (85) scored his second of the afternoon following a cross from Kazenga LuaLua but Barnsley held on the claim all three points.

Luton manager Nathan Jones said: “I thought they were better than us. They had more aggression than us, especially in the first half.

“They played with a bit more intensity, so credit to them. We were way off in terms of ball retention and playing with intensity and fluidity.

“They are a good side and we knew that. We knew that we needed to be brave and win our battles and we didn’t do that in the first half.

“The goals were really disappointing but I think that overall, Barnsley deserved to win.

“There was an onside ‘goal’ and we should have had a penalty late on, which was a pull back on (Danny) Hylton, so big decisions have gone against us, but they were a little bit better than us today.

“They were big, big decisions. You need the correct decisions, but I can’t say we would have gone on and won the game.”