Following our 1-1 draw with Reading on Saturday afternoon, Poya Asbaghi admitted there wasn’t a great deal of quality on show from either side at Oakwell between two sides scrapping for Sky Bet Championship survival.
Carlton Morris’ early opener was cancelled out by Josh Laurent in the closing stages as both teams settled for a share of the spoils, in a contest where gilt-edged opportunities were few and far between.
“Maybe a draw is a logical result – I don’t think either team created too many chances,” began Asbaghi. “It was a tight game, like it’s supposed to be – there wasn’t fantastic football and combinations to watch; it was two teams fighting for survival. There was a lot of hard work and winning second balls.
“We were fortunate to take the lead with the goal, and I think, coming into half-time with the lead we had, we still talked about not getting too deep and trying to press them high, but also talking about how we could push them down for longer times.
“When we won second balls, it was important for us to switch the game and push Reading down, so we weren’t only defending. I think, when it came to the later part, we were not good enough to do it in this game, which allowed Reading to have the ball.
“The other part is when they had the ball and they start to take a lot more risks with the quality they have, I honestly thought we were defending really well. We were working really hard, even after 65 or 70 minutes when we started to get a little tired and they started to push us down for longer, even then I felt we were defending really good.
“They had some lateral free-kicks, but were never really creating any chances until they scored the goal.”
Our Head Coach also provided an update on Michał Helik, who missed this clash with the Royals after picking up a knock in training upon his return from international duty.
Asbaghi is yet to learn the extent of our defender’s injury, but hopes the Pole won’t be absent for too long.
“He got injured in training after coming back from international duty and, honestly, I don’t have any clear answers,” he continud. “We will know in the upcoming days.
“He could be out for the season, he could still come back before the season ends, but I honestly don’t know.
“Let’s just wait and see.”
You can watch Poya’s post-match interview on iFollow Barnsley.
