Church delivers for Charlton
BARNSLEY boss Dave Flitcroft was left frustrated after his side chucked away a two-goal lead against fellow early-season strugglers Charlton.
The Tykes had dominated the opening hour at Oakwell and two quality strikes from Chris O’Grady had fired them into a seemingly unassailable lead.
However, the gutsy Addicks struck back in the final 25 minutes with youngster Jordan Cousins and Simon Church levelling it up as both sides earned their first points of the season.
And Flitcroft admitted his side were punished for slacking off.
Flitcroft said: “We dominated the first half, and beyond – we were in full control. But then we've lost our way a little bit and our game management has been poor.
“Charlton were there for the taking, but we've switched off at vital times and it's let them back in. We'll talk about it on Monday in training, but right now it's a huge disappointment as we've just not been ruthless enough.
“There were positives though. We've dominated for long spells against a really good Charlton side - we just needed to keep that rhythm going.
“In the first half we put in a ter- rific performance, and if we carry on in that vain we'll head in the right direction.
“A good week's work came to fruition in that first hour, so we have to take heart from that going forward.” The Tykes were good value for their half-time lead.
They went in front after 16 minutes as O'Grady bagged their first goal of the season after two Championship blanks - and one in the Capital One Cup.
Scott Golbourne crossed in from the left, Chris Dagnall's initial effort was blocked, but as the ball was crossed back in, there was O'Grady who lashed a shot into the roof of the net from close range.
Minutes later the hosts almost doubled their lead, only for Jacob Mellis's crisp strike to rebound out off the base of a post.
The theme resumed after the break, and the Tykes deservedly went further ahead when O'Grady planted home a wellplaced header from Mellis' tempting cross.
However, the Addicks showed plenty of resolve after that point, and sub Cousins brought it back to 2-1 in the 64th minute when he fired home from 15 yards on his league debut.
Eight minutes later and the visitors completed their comeback, with Church clipping a shot past Steele after latching on to a pass from Yann Kermorgant.
Addicks boss Chris Powell revealed that his stern half-time talking-to appeared to do the trick as his side eventually battled back to earn a point.
He said: “We didn't start the game well and so there were a few choice words from me at halftime. It was a big game for us. I know it's still very early in the season, but both sides will have seen this as a big game.We needed to get our season up and running, as did Barnsley.
“I wanted to see more character, I wanted to see my players show some stomach for the fight that will follow over the winter months. And I did see that to be fair. We battled back well. Could we have gone on and won it? I'm not so sure as Barnsley really went for it at the end.” To comment on this match go to http://boards.footymad.net/