Dani Pinillos insists Barnsley can be proud of the way they performed against Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
The Reds were beaten 1-0 at the City Ground courtesy of Ben Watson’s second half strike, but were good value for at least a point against Sabri Lamouchi’s side.
“I think we played really well in the second half and had a lot of chances,” said Pinillos. “They obviously have a good team but, in the second half, their goalkeeper was busier than ours – we had two or three really good chances to score.
“I’m proud because we played really well and all we can do is keep working hard.”
Despite going three games without a goal, performances in recent weeks from Barnsley have been encouraging.
Pinillos believes that the Reds’ fortunes will soon change if they continue to play well, asserting that the players are doing all they can to get back to winning ways.
“It’s frustrating because when you don’t have chances to score you know you’ve played a bad game and don’t deserve to win,” admitted the Spaniard. “But when you’re playing well like this and the ball doesn’t go in it’s frustrating. There’s nothing we could do better; it’s just scoring goals.
“Football is like that. In the last three games we’ve played very well and created a lot of chances, and I think it will change.”
Saturday was only Pinillos’ second league start of the season as he continues his return to full fitness.
The 26-year-old missed almost a month towards the end of the Reds’ 2018/19 League One promotion campaign, but says he is working hard to get back to his best.
“I’m feeling good now,” said Pinillos. “I had to have surgery twice on my eye and it was a little bit hard, to be honest, because I came back two or three weeks after the group – I didn’t travel to France or Germany.
“It was hard for me to be fit, but now I’m feeling good and I want to keep working hard and playing well.”
You can watch Dani’s full post-match reaction on iFollow Barnsley.