Poya Asbaghi slams Barnsley ‘mentality’ after scraping past Barrow

Posted Sunday, January 09, 2022 by PA

Barnsley boss Poya Asbaghi wants his players to take more responsibility after they claimed a dramatic 5-4 victory against 10-man Barrow in one of the most incredible FA Cup matches seen in recent years.

Substitute Carlton Morris netted the winner for the Championship outfit after League Two Barrow had twice levelled inside the final four minutes to force extra time.

Asbaghi said: “This is just how the FA Cup is. It was a crazy game.

“I’m happy with the win but I’m disappointed with our mentality, we should kill the game in the second half.

“I think our reaction after their first goal is not acceptable. Of course they get a lot of energy after that goal but we didn’t take responsibility.

“We shouldn’t have allowed them the chances they had in the second half.

“We have lots of players missing, there were lots of rotations and of course it affects the understanding of the team, but in terms of mentality we looked really young out there.

“I really hope this won’t be the case against Stoke in the Championship, I hope our mentality is an issue we can overcome.

“Carlton Morris was mature, he did take responsibility and if we had 11 men doing the same we would have won 7-0.”

Barnsley opened the scoring in the 23rd minute after captain Mads Andersen leapt the highest to head past Paul Farman.

Finding an equaliser became a much tougher ask for Barrow when Tom Beadling was sent off for a high challenge on Romal Palmer after 38 minutes.

Things went from bad to worse for Barrow on 42 minutes when Jordan Williams scored to give the Tykes a comfortable lead going into half time.

Barrow skipper Ollie Banks scored a goal of the round contender in the 61st minute with a thunderous free-kick.

Luke James then found Anthony Glennon in the box and the debutant finished confidently to make it 2-2 after 78 minutes.

Barrow’s joy was short-lived as striker Devante Cole curled in from distance after 83 minutes to give the Tykes the advantage once more only for James Jones to powerfully head in to level the scores again.

Morris must have thought he had won it for Barnsley when he scored in the 88th minute.

Unbelievably, Josh Kay drilled in from distance in the 90th minute to take the tie into a further 30-minute period.

Morris got his second of the afternoon 12 minutes into extra time and that goal proved to be enough to see Barnsley through to the fourth round.

Barrow manager Mark Cooper said: “We’re proud of the performance but we wanted to win. I thought we deserved to win.

“The reason we lost the game was nothing to do with us. At four each with five seconds to go, Liam Kitching nearly catches the ball in the penalty area and the referee has just waved it away.

“I tried to talk to him and he didn’t answer, he just booked me because referees aren’t normal people like us. They’re that high and mighty you can’t even speak to them.

“In terms of the performance, I have nothing but positivity for the players. We played the majority of the game without a striker and we’ve scored four goals.

“Usually we defend well and struggle to score goals but it was the other way round.

“It would’ve been some story but for one reason or another it just wasn’t going to happen.”