Daniel Stendel hopes Cauley Woodrow’s late leveller against Derby County can be the catalyst to kick-start Barnsley’s Sky Bet Championship campaign.
The Reds fought bravely at Oakwell and were fully deserving of at least a point on Wednesday evening.
“We need moments like this,” insisted Stendel. “We’re so happy to score late to get the second goal and I think you can see that the players never gave up and always believe that they can change the result.
“I think it was a big moment for us and I hope we can keep it for Saturday to get three points. When you look at some of our games, you see that the team deserved a victory and I cannot believe that we’ve not got it yet because our young players try every time against big teams.”
Aapo Halme netted his first Reds’ goal to give Barnsley an early lead before Chris Martin’s close range finish and Tom Huddlestone’s penalty just before half-time swung the tie in Derby’s favour.
But Barnsley dug deep and, following a number of attacking substitutions from Stendel, made their relentless pressure tell in stoppage time.
“I think for the team, players and supporters, it was a great moment that we scored in the last minutes,” continued the Reds’ Head Coach. “We deserved this point and I think, after our performance in the first half, without conceding two goal, we played a good game but, when you concede goals like this, it’s hard to accept; they felt like own goals.
“For our situation, it’s not easy to keep the confidence high and to do it against Derby – a big name in this league – is good. We played well in the first half and went 1-0 in front, which we deserved. We had chances to score the second goal, but didn’t do enough when we conceded the two goals.
“I hope this can be a turning point. Maybe we deserved to win other games more, but maybe this is the one moment we need for results to turn and I hope we can do it in Preston on Saturday.”
You can watch Daniel’s full post-match press conference on iFollow Barnsley.
