IT’S A HECK OF AN EFFORT BY TYKES
Bees are held by Davies and co
BARNSLEY boss Paul Heckingbottom hailed his side’s dogged defending as they ended a run of five straight defeats with a hardearned point at Brentford.
The result owed much to visiting keeper Adam Davies as he pulled off crucial saves at either end of the contest, denying Neal Maupay when the striker was put through in the opening two minutes, and then in stoppage time when Davies got down well to turn Ollie Watkins’ drive around the post.
But Heckingbottom was delighted with the way his side limited their hosts to just a handful of clear-cut chances to record their first point since mid-November.
“We worked very hard for it, and we think we deserved it,” he said. “Davies made a very good save in the first couple of minutes, and a big save at the end, but apart from that he’s protected very well.
“We’ve done a hell of a lot of work without the ball. Brentford are a really good side, but we also knew we could cause them problems.
“Out there we didn’t create a lot, but at the other end we were much more ruthless and dogged and we limited Brentford to as many chances as we had.”
The Bees, who have now drawn ten games in the league this season, more than any other Championship team, were the better side in the first half but failed to take their chances early on.
Sergi Canos was a threat throughout the opening period, cutting in from the left hand side to great effect. Maupay might have found the net had a low cross been inches closer to his outstretched foot, and Romaine Sawyers also headed narrowly wide before the break.
But the Barnsley defence, well screened by a deep midfield line, blocked everything and stifled all their hosts’ attacking promise, limiting them largely to shots from range.
And, having failed to register a shot on target in the first half – the most promising moment was a counter-attack led by Harvey Barnes, which saw the winger beat his man before squandering the opportunity with a poor touch – Barnsley came to life in the final quarter of the game.
Daniel Bentley in the Brentford goal had been little more than a spectator until the 68th minute, but Barnes’ free-kick brought the best out of him, and Tom Bradshaw had an opportunity to score from just a few yards out minutes later, but could only divert the ball over the bar under pressure from a defender.
Bees manager Dean Smith criticised the visitors’ negative tactics and time-wasting, but also admitted his side were not good enough.
“It’s difficult when a team comes to kill the game, and take as much time as they can taking goal-kicks and throwins,” he said.
“One lad went down with cramp, two minutes later they made a substitution but it certainly wasn’t him who came off. They killed the game very well, and that’s something they came to do. It’s the referee’s job, he’s got to deal with that.
“But in terms of the game we’ve got to be more clinical.
“The first half in this game they didn’t show an awful lot of ambition but we had enough chances to be comfortably leading at half-time, we just didn’t take our chances when we created them.”