Johnson: I’m disappointed in not taking the three points
Manager Lee Johnson spoke to the media after his side were held to a draw at Oakwell by his former side Barnsley on Saturday afternoon.
It was the start he would have dreamed of in the clash against the Tykes as Junior Quitirna opened the scoring three minutes in, but that was ruled out not long after when Devante Cole converted from range after missing from the penalty spot.
Quitirna put Town back in the lead before the break as he stood over a free-kick and wrapped his finish into the top corner leaving the keeper with no chance to stop it, but yet again, Town were held by a diving header late on meaning the points had to be shared.
Here’s what Lee had to say after the game:
On wanting to take the win at Oakwell…
“I’m disappointed in not taking the three points, and I’m disappointed in the team’s performance if I’m being honest. That might seem a little bit shocking in one sense, but we’ve got really good footballers and we forgot to play today.
“That’s what frustrated me, for 35-40 minutes we played properly, and I thought we were outstanding and then, all of a sudden, we dropped off, gave the ball away, and then it became an attack versus defence drill in my view.
“We won’t be successful by holding on; too many long balls when Stockers [Jayden Stockley] came on, which is nothing against him, but it felt like we took the easy option. We’re not fit enough, we need to be fitter, and need to believe in ourselves more in possession.”
On the work rate shown by the players…
“We managed to get a result today, and that point could have been three if we were a bit stronger mentally, but he [Junior Quitirna] has produced two moments of individual brilliance to score the two goals we got today.
“I thought the lads worked their socks off and I was delighted with that, they showed real heart in the defensive sense, but we are better than we showed today. The first goal was a good one and the second was a piece of individual brilliance.
“We didn’t have enough of quality-controlled possession and in my game and our philosophy, it’s about control and how many different scenarios we can control in a match out of possession, and we didn’t do that today because we gave the ball away too much.”
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