LEE’S LOOKING FOR SOME ZIP
BARNSLEY may be off the mark with their first league win of the season but Lee Johnson admits his side are lacking an early-season spark after watching a sluggish display.
Conor Hourihane’s second-half spot-kick sealed victory but in truth the Tykes can count themselves lucky after Burton missed a glut of chances in the first half.
And Johnson said: “Generally we were solid, but we have got to improve to be fair to the fans.
“Hopefully that will come with more energy, because we have got some good footballers.
“We want the ball in play and moving about and we have got to make sure that when we get up the pitch we pick people out.
“I’m relieved to have won. Burton set their stall out to disrupt our tempo and they are a good team who know how to win.
“They are a very hard team to break down and, at times, we were a bit loose due to our lack of energy.”
Stuart Beavon fired a comfortable shot at Adam Davies for Burton on 17 minutes as both teams struggled to create early chances.
Davies had to be at his best five minutes later when he tipped Mark Duffy’s glancing header away for a corner after he met Nasser El Khayati’s inswinging cross.
The Barnsley shot-stopper then produced another excellent onehanded save to push El Khayati’s goalbound shot away for a corner on 29 minutes.
El Khayati then hit the side-netting on 39 minutes after he picked up a loose ball in midfield and beat right-back James Bree.
The wasted chances proved very costly for Albion as Barnsley took the lead on 67 minutes when Hourihane coolly converted from the spot after Damien McCrory was ruled to have hacked down Josh Scowen.
Duffy wasted a superb chance to level for Albion on 74 minutes after Lucas Akins held the ball up and picked the winger out in plenty of space.
But Duffy, on loan from Birmingham, failed to show the composure needed as he blazed his effort high and wide.
Substitute Timmy Thiele saw a fierce 30-yard strike crash off the crossbar on 82 minutes but the newly-promoted Brewers ran out of time.
And Burton boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink says a lack of cutting edge, rather than the penalty decision, cost his side in the end.
Hasselbaink said: “I am not going to say anything about the referee. There is nothing we can do to change the decision now, it has been and gone and we have to move on.
“I am happy with the way the players played and their commitment. We found it tough in the first 20 minutes, but we worked their goalkeeper more than they did ours after that.
“We had our chances, but did not take them. Once you go behind it is hard because Barnsley do not need to come out and they can keep the ball.
“We defended well and it is unfortunate that we lost. It was not meant to be and we have to put this behind us now.”