Ten-man Tykes too strong for Stanley

BARNSLEY boss Daniel Stendel believes there is more to come from his side as they moved up to third in the table with a win over Accrington Stanley.

“We grew into the game,” said Stendel. “We can press and play better than we did in the first half and we didn’t make use of our counterattacking situations.

“It was a good performance from our back four, we were fighting hard and defending well and that was key to us winning the game.

“We showed a good attitude and I am happy with the squad and players. There is more to come but we showed we could cope with difficult situations and a big atmosphere.”

On-loan Fulham frontman Cauley Woodrow opened the scoring after 36 minutes, getting on the end of Kieffer Moore’s backheel and slotting the ball past Connor Ripley on his first start.

And top scorer Moore made it 10 for the season and sealed the win for Barnsley with a 94th-minute goal, forcing the ball home after Ripley could only push a shot from Brad Potts into the air.

But the Tykes had to battle for almost 30 minutes with 10 men as defender Zeki Fryers was shown a red card in the 64th minute, after picking up a yellow in the 34th minute.

The Tykes were thankful to emergency loan keeper Jordan Smith in the early stages, who was making his debut from Nottingham Forest, as he kept out powerful strikes from Jordan Clark and Sean McConville.

However Barnsley grew into the game and Dimitri Cavare stung the hands of Ripley before Woodrow struck.

Fryers saw red after a foul on Callum Johnson, and Barnsley fan Clark came close to levelling for Stanley just after, but his effort was just wide before the Tykes made it safe in injury-time. Stanley boss John Coleman refused to be too upset as it was only his side’s second home defeat in 2018, in front of a record attendance at Wham Stadium of 4,801.

“This felt like a step up in class for the first time in this league,” he said. “I felt we stepped up with them but with 10 men they were tactically strong and saw the game out.

“They are one of the best teams in the league and we competed with them and they will be wary of us at their place.”