HECK UNHAPPY EVEN AFTER LATE POINT
ETHAN Pinnock’s stoppage-time equaliser against Reading could not temper Barnsley manager Paul Heckingbottom’s frustration at his side’s lack of attacking instinct.
Pinnock snatched a late point for the hosts after Yann Kermorgant had earlier appeared to have earned all three points for the visitors.
But Heckingbottom admitted Barnsley, despite the character they showed in equalising, could – and perhaps should – have got even more from the game.
“I’m aware there was lots of good stuff that happened in that game,” he said, “but I can’t get out of my head what’s been evident for the last 18 months: a big deficiency in the squad.
“There’s a big deficiency in attacking the ball in the box. We’ve created chances, but they should be goals. There are incidents that won’t have even gone down as chances that should be tap-ins.
“A lot of it is instinct, and a lot of it is drive and that’s what we’ve been missing.
“The belief in the players has never wavered. They kept going and going but we had to change tactically to change the dynamic of the team.”
The game was slow to ignite but when it did the hosts enjoyed a flurry of chances, starting with Harvey Barnes heading Joe Williams’ cross wide at the back post in the 28th minute.
Tom Bradshaw’s excellent touch then allowed Mamadou Thiam space on the halfhour, but the striker shot well wide when a return pass looked the better option.
Two minutes later, a fast-paced Barnsley counter-attack ended with Thiam steering Andy Yiadom’s cross into the back post before Barnes beat Chris Gunter in the air but headed wide on 34 minutes.
The second half continued in the same manner as the first, with Thiam showing a brilliant touch to bring down Yiadom’s long pass before releasing Bradshaw, whose shot across goal was saved.
Yiadom released Thiam again on the hour, who turned inside and out to make space, but his powerful shot hit Bradshaw, before Vito Mannone turned his subsequent effort wide.
Against the run of play, however, Tyler Blackett swung in a left-wing cross and Kermorgant arrived at the back post to head Reading in front.
Paul Heckingbottom responded with a triple substitution, but Reading appeared to have shut the door on Barnsley’s attempts to snatch an equaliser.
Pinnock ensured a share of the spoils, though, heading in from Lloyd Isgrove’s floated cross just seconds into stoppage time.
Ike Ugbo almost grabbed an even later winner when he beat Mannone to a bouncing ball in the 94th minute, but when the Chelsea loanee shot Gunter was alert to the danger and headed over off the line.
And frustrated Royals boss Jaap Stam said: “For us, this season, it has been fine margins in many games and up until now we’re still not on that positive side.
“In a lot of games we’ve been very close, but we’ve not been getting these points which also means we need to be better in certain circumstances.
“The simple thing is, if you want to go up in the table, you need to win your games.
“You try to work on it but when the moments are there on the pitch the players need to do it.”