12 February 2022

Poya Asbaghi hails Barnsley’s performance in win over QPR

12 February 2022

Barnsley head coach Poya Asbaghi admitted the 1-0 win over promotion-chasing QPR came at a “really good moment” for his struggling side.

The Tykes ended a 13-match winless run in the Championship as Domingos Quina’s second-half goal moved them five points from safety.

Asbaghi celebrated his first win in charge, and said: “Of course you feel good after a victory.

“I think for us as well, with the results we have had this season, this win comes at a really good moment.

“It was a win that I felt was well deserved. I think we played well.

“In the first half, maybe we were a little too open and they were allowed to have too much on the ball.

“I felt that coming into the second half, we adjusted that pretty well. We were much more aggressive in our pressing in the second half.

“When I watched the second half, I honestly felt that we were the better team. It was a great goal from Dom that puts us in the lead and you never know how we’re going to react, defending a lead because we haven’t done that so much.

“I felt that the players did it in a mature way. It gives a lot for the confidence, I hope.

“The only way you can unite everybody in and around the club is to win football games and play good.”

QPR’s seven-match unbeaten run ended, leaving them six points off the automatic-promotion spots.

Manager Mark Warburton said: “It was a poor performance – as simple as that. You have to earn things out of games of football.

“We lacked fluidity in the first half and went in nil-nil. We knew what we had to do in the second half and, in truth, didn’t do it.

“We’re a team that creates chances and scores goals and today we weren’t good enough. We didn’t really hurt them.

“As a team, we didn’t do enough. I was more than wary of Barnsley. They’d lost seven in a row and the law of averages tells you that they’re due to win a game of football. That’s fact.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t really do enough to test their keeper. We didn’t show the quality in the final third.

“We were nowhere near our best. I felt we were very laboured and slow against an opponent who are fighting for their lives.”

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