Poya Asbaghi wants Barnsley to work on chemistry after Peterborough draw

Posted Sunday, November 28, 2021 by PA

New Barnsley boss Poya Asbaghi was in no mood to celebrate a first point after his second game in the hot seat.

The Tykes battled out a goalless stalemate at relegation rivals Peterborough, but it was a result that did neither side any favours in the survival battle.

Asbaghi’s newly inherited side now find themselves eight points from safety, with hosts Posh also four points adrift in the bottom three.

Barnsley, who had lost 10 of their previous 11 games, were arguably fortunate to leave London Road with a share of the spoils as Posh substitute Joel Randall squandered the best chance of a game low on quality.

The £1million summer signing wildly blazed over from close range a couple of minutes after the game resumed following a delay due to a floodlight failure with 10 minutes to go.

Carlton Morris was then denied by Posh goalkeeper Dai Cornell in stoppage time as it ended in deadlock.

Asbaghi said: “We had ambition to win the game, so of course there is disappointment we didn’t come away with all three points.

“But we don’t know how important this point will be until the end of the season. Maybe then it will be worth something for us.

“A clean sheet is very pleasing and shows we are building something, but it is clear we need to link up better with each other than we did in this game and understand better how to use the spaces on the pitch.

“We have to create chemistry between the players and we now have a full week to train and work on that. I will not be surprised if a lot of the technical errors are due to a lack of confidence.

“It was a game between two teams who have been losing games and were low on confidence. You got that feeling when watching it.

“I cannot keep looking at the league table as that will not change my mind on how to approach games. I’m also not going to concentrate too much on what other teams are doing as that is not in my hands.

“For every minute or hour I do that I would lose focus on the thing I can effect, which is ourselves.”

Posh boss Darren Ferguson, who handed a surprise debut to 19-year-old striker Kai Corbett, said: “It was a game lacking in quality, which was probably understandable to a degree with two nervous teams who are not getting good results at the moment.

“The floodlights going out probably did us a favour in all honesty. We were able to get a breather into some tired legs and I thought we finished strongly when we came back on, but unfortunately we couldn’t take the big chance.

“We should have gone away thinking ‘it wasn’t a great game but at least we picked up the three points’, so that was the big moment.

“It’s definitely a case of two points dropped as they have only won two games all season, but I can’t criticise my players for their application and the effort they put in.

“This result perhaps shows where we are at the minute. We’re not getting that little break go our way that you sometimes need either.

“We’ve just got to keep working and keep believing the results will turn.”