Michael Duff satisfied as Barnsley beat ‘awkward’ opponents Forest Green Rovers

Posted Sunday, October 30, 2022 by PA

Barnsley boss Michael Duff was satisfied with the 2-0 win against Forest Green Rovers but stressed that it was not an easy game, and the visitors should not be taken lightly.

Devante Cole and Josh Martin scored the goals for the Tykes in a dominant display.

But Duff was in no mood to get carried away. He said: “It was an okay performance. I don’t think it was brilliant. It was a good second half.

“But it was a difficult game. People will say how Barnsley and Forest Green Rovers were in two different leagues last year, but it’s the way they play.

“It was an awkward game, but I thought we were deserved winners. It’s always pleasing to win a game.”

Speaking on the way the home side set up, Duff said: “We thought we could hurt them if we changed the shape and tried to play in behind, not play in front of them.

“I thought the second half we opened them up five or six times and we could have scored a lot more.”

Goals have been an issue for Barnsley lately and Duff acknowledged this. “The first goal is really important,” he said. “Whenever we’ve gone a goal up, we look good, whenever we’ve gone a goal down, we’ve struggled. There’s no getting away from that.

“Even at 2-0 in extra time I was still nervous. There’s no God-given right. We’ve actually struggled against the smaller teams in the league this season.”

Ian Burchnall had positive things to say about Forest Green Rovers’ first half display but was disappointed with another defeat. He admitted that his side gifted opportunities.

Burchnall said: “I thought we did okay in the first half. I wasn’t disappointed with it.

“But the goals were too easy. I didn’t see them cut us open at all. Everything came from a counter-attack or our mistake.

“Barnsley played lots of long balls and we just did not do some of the dirty work well enough to establish ourselves in the game.

“In the second half Barnsley started to be much more direct and we couldn’t cope with that. The game became open and we lost the ball in poor areas.”

Rovers are sitting near the bottom of the league as their winless run continues. However, Burchnall knows what they need to try to change their fortunes and remains optimistic.

He said: “We don’t create enough considering our possession. But it’s a difficult place to come to and I felt when we got to the final third we needed to be a bit more clinical.

“But there’s a lot of football to play. We’ve really suffered while adapting to League One. We need to just keep working hard and at some point, we’ll hit a run.”