Following our 1-1 draw with Reading on Good Friday, Valérien Ismaël believes Barnsley should have taken all three points from a tight encounter.
The Reds had a late goal ruled out, allegedly for a foul on Royals’ goalkeeper Rafael Cabral, although contact seemed minimal to say the least.
It is the latest in a series of decisions that have gone against Ismaël’s side, and the Frenchman feels that that Barnsley haven’t been getting the rub of the green in recent weeks.
“When you see the replay, it’s a 50-50 situation and I cannot recognise a big foul on the ‘keeper,” began our Head Coach. “Dike used his body, but it’s always the same situation – in the last two games we’ve had two disallowed goals, clearly goals for us, and all the time it’s Dike involved.
“They think because he has a body like his it’s always a foul or never a foul on him. But we don’t want to complain; it’s a good point for us. We were great in the second half and I think we played a good game. It was a big fight with a lot of emotion, which is what you need in such a game.”
In an end-to-end contest, both teams had gilt-edged opportunities to claim a priceless victory, but neither was able to take advantage with Reading’s Lucas João missing an absolute sitter in the second half after capitalising on a loose back pass.
Ismaël wants the Reds to eradicate those errors from their game as, on another day, the opposition might not be as forgiving in those scenarios.
“We were lucky in the second half; we made a big mistake again but at that time we weren’t punished and that’s why we were lucky,” he continued.
“We had a lot of situations to score; we hit the post and Carlton had a situation to score. The mentality was good, the effort and desire was great, so we have to stay that way now. There are seven games left, you don’t have time to go deep into analysis. We have to make sure the intensity, mentality and togetherness stays there and we are on the right way.
“It’s a slight step, but we keep Reading behind us and we move forward with a little step and, in the end, it could be a really great point for us.”
You can watch Valérien’s post-match interview on iFollow Barnsley.
