Following our 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest on Saturday afternoon, Valérien Ismaël says it is important that Barnsley continue to move forward and insists it is another encouraging point.
In a game of very few gilt-edge opportunities, both sides only had the occasional clear sight of goal with neither goalkeeper particularly tested throughout the stalemate at the City Ground.
“I think we have a positive point with a clean sheet, finally,” began Ismaël. “The performance in the first half, we started strong and controlled the game. After, we lost control in the middle of the half because we were too sloppy in our clearances and Nottingham Forest had two chances to score.
“The second half was much better – we had the big chance with Cauley to score; Samba made a good save and I think we have to agree with a draw. We move forward, slowly, but we move forward and this is important for us.”
It’s our first Sky Bet Championship clean sheet since the return fixture against Forest back in November but, while it hasn’t been the most stellar defensive record, results between then and now have certainly given us reason to be optimistic.
Ismaël left Nottingham with renewed enthusiasm after watching the Reds give their all and come close to netting winner with a late rally in stoppage time.
“We competed and we are present,” continued our Head Coach. “The mindset is very positive from the team and, when you see that Nottingham Forest had one week to prepare for the game and we only had two days, we kept fighting until the end.
“We had more energy to score and I’m very proud of the guys. Now it’s the right time to recover and we will have a full week to prepare for the game against Derby.”
You can watch Valérien’s post-match interview on iFollow Barnsley.
