Stendel satisfied with injury-hit Barnsley’s display in draw at Doncaster

Posted Saturday, March 16, 2019 by PA

Barnsley manager Daniel Stendel was the happier of the two managers as he saw his injury-ravaged side earn a point in a 0-0 draw at Doncaster in what was a tame South Yorkshire derby.

Rovers had the best of the chances, with Reds keeper Adam Davies earning a sixth clean sheet in a row with some excellent saves at the start and end of the match, denying Mallik Wilks and John Marquis inside four minutes and then brilliantly denying sub Kieran Sadlier at the death.

Due to the absences of several key players, Stendel was forced to throw in youngsters Victor Adeboyejo, Jordan Williams and Ben Williams, while Zeki Fryers came on after just 18 minutes, and Stendel admitted he was more than satisfied with a point after putting a scratch side together.

“I am proud of the performance of my team,” he said. “Okay, we can play better, but we had several players out and some of those I put in have only started one or two games this season.

“In the first half, Doncaster put a lot of pressure on our defence and we had a bit of luck, but after the break we controlled the game and we deserved to take a point.

“We had never put out a team like this before and they needed a bit of time as we had a lot of young players on the pitch.

“It was good we came in at half-time at 0-0 as Rovers had a lot of chances and Adam Davies made some good saves. But in the second half we had the control and put pressure on them. They had a big chance, but I think it was their only chance.”

Davies has now kept 19 clean sheets this season, but Stendel was quick to praise the rest of the team.

“He played very well, but it is a whole team effort and all the players on the pitch played very well,” he added.

The point did at least cement Rovers’ position in the play-off zone, but boss Grant McCann, while admitting he was pleased with his side’s display, was also left frustrated as his team made it six games without a win.

“I thought we were excellent in the first half, we had real energy and a tempo, but it wasn’t to be and we take the point and move on,” said the Ulsterman. “In the first half we were by far the best team and we should have been two or three up.

“The second half was quite even, we had a spell, they had a spell, but we moved the ball too slowly and gave them some momentum. I am disappointed that we didn’t take any of our chances.

“Credit to Barnsley they defended well, but we also defended well and I can’t really remember Marko (Marosi) making any saves apart from one in the first half and that’s against one of the best teams in the league. We matched them, probably even bettered them over the 90 minutes.”