16 August 2022

‘We did every part of the game well’ – Michael Duff on Barnsley’s display

16 August 2022

Barnsley boss Michael Duff felt his team produced a complete performance as they beat Bristol Rovers 3-0.

Early goals from Devante Cole and Jordan Williams were added to by Josh Benson in the second half.

Duff was pleased with the way his side responded to Saturday’s defeat at Derby, but believes they could have won by more goals.

The Barnsley head coach said: “I thought we did every part of the game well. We kept a clean sheet and the press was really high and they did it well.

“It gave us good chances in the penalty area and I thought we moved the ball well at times as well.

“The only disappointment at half-time was that it was not dead and buried. I thought it should have been dead at half-time.

“It is always nice to get a goal early and settle any sort of nerves. Because Bristol Rovers are used to winning and have had 18 wins this calendar year and you could see and hear the spirit they had in the warm-up.

“We had to match that energy and intensity. We came out of the traps really well and I was really pleased that Devante got off the mark as well.”

Bristol Rovers manager Joey Barton thought his team were “second best in every single department”.

He said: “We’ve got no complaints – we were not good enough.

“The lads were 1-0 down after three minutes. It was a shocking goal to give away and then we didn’t really settle at all.

“We we’re doing some bizarre things in terms of managing the game and playing the conditions.

“Everything that could go wrong tonight seemed to go wrong.

“We were second best everywhere in every department and that’s very rare for our boys. We were really poor.

“The lads know that we’ve been second best in every single department.

“Every single player will look at this game and think we could be better.”

Barton could turn to the transfer market to boost his squad before the end of the window.

He added: “We’re constantly trying to be proactive in the market and when things present themselves, we’ll take them off the board.”

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