José Morais spoke to the media following defeat at Elland Road against Yorkshire rivals, Leeds United.
The Reds fell behind inside of 20 minutes as full-back Tom Pearce drove forward and fired beyond Adam Davies into the bottom corner to give the hosts a lead. As the half wore on, Barnsley got a deserved equaliser through an own goal off Paudie O’Connor, but conceded the winning effort shortly after the restart to the second half when Alioski pounced at close range.
José gave his thoughts following the game, stating: “A result that is not a winning one is always disappointing, and it’s disappointing because it is a result that should have been a different one. It’s a result that has happened because we missed opportunities to score and make it a different one.
“I would say to my players that I am behind everything they are trying to do and we all know what we have to do. Any goal we concede, we are unhappy. This is the way I feel and we are not blaming any one person for this, conceding a goal is always disappointing.”
Two key moments came towards the end of the match. For a second week running, a share in the game hinged on a penalty decision that wasn’t awarded for José’s side. Adam Hammill appeared to be tripped in the box in the 87th minute, but was booked for simulation instead. Shortly before that, Kieffer Moore will feel he could have levelled proceedings from Hammill’s cross at close range.
“I was expecting the foul to be given.” Said Morais on the penalty decision. “It is my opinion but I think it should be a penalty, but now we have lost and I was expecting to see more.
“I was surprised it didn’t go in but I have now heard his [Kieffer Moore] version of how it didn’t go in and we are all disappointed but we have to forget that now and move on to Tuesday. He has another chance to score then.”
It’s the first Yorkshire derby that Morais and his coaching staff have been together for away from home. He sampled the intense atmosphere that comes with the game.
“The atmosphere was certainly very interesting today, it was nice for them to see some good moments of our team but those moments should have achieved a different result for them. We controlled big moments of the first half, but it was a sad moment again when we conceded. After we conceded we tried to run and change the result but Leeds is a team with good players.”
Up next is a trip to the City Ground on Tuesday night, to face Nottingham Forest for the Reds. The match is a ‘game in hand’ on the others in and around the relegation zone, which Morais now believes is a ‘must win’.
“It is between us and the teams closest to us in this moment, Bolton is a team that is closer and my belief is that we have to win the next game which is the game we have on the others, winning this game would mean we are in a good position and we will be able to make the results on the teams in the direct fight.”
