The Reds lost 2-1 to a late goal from former Tyke Jordan Clark, and Johnson was clearly disappointed to lose a match that he felt the team should have won. The Barnsley head coach was quick to air his feelings after the game.
“It feels horrible," he said. "I don’t think we played that badly as in patches we were good. The one criticism I do have of my team is that we resorted to going too long ball in the last fifteen to twenty minutes. We lost our patience and started to go forward too early.
“It’s disrespectful to say it’s a smash and grab from them, but we were the ones trying to win. They were wasting time then we got hit with a sucker punch.”
A major talking point during the match was a claim for a penalty half way through the second half. Dan Crowley produced a bit of skill and appeared to beat his man before being brought down, however the referee gave nothing.
On the incident Johnson stated, “We should have had a penalty, it was absolutely stone wall. Their defender took away Dan Crowley’s leg and if we scored that the game would have changed, I don’t know why the referee hasn’t given it.”
The Reds conceded to an early Shrewsbury goal from a corner, but after that they came back into the match and created multiple chances. On the amount of chances created, Johnson said “We certainly created enough to win the match. Once we got the goal back we showed our good character but we lacked quality in the final third today. We have got that quality, but for some reason it wasn’t there.”
Johnson ended by sending a message to the fans and players. “We’ve got some good players, it’s mine and my staff’s job to find the right blend to make us consistent through the whole match not just ten or fifteen minute patches.
“I saw a few little things set in today that will be 100% stamped out by me. If they aren’t then those players won’t play or will be moved on. I have to trust my personality is being put out onto the pitch.”
