Michael Duff delighted with Barnsley’s forward line in Accrington win

Posted Sunday, January 22, 2023 by PA

Barnsley boss Michael Duff praised the performance of his forwards as his side convincingly beat Accrington 3-1 at Oakwell.

James Norwood, Jack Aitchison and Jordan Williams got on the scoresheet within the opening 19 minutes, with Stanley’s Tommy Leigh converting from the penalty spot late on.

Duff said: “You can’t ask for much more than to be 3-0 up after 19 minutes.

“I’ve told Ziyad (Larkeche) that I’ll take the blame for the last goal. With the way he trains he deserves some minutes on the pitch, unfortunately as a defender at 3-0 up all you can do is come on and make a mistake.

“It’s frustrating that we didn’t keep a clean sheet but the intention from the first minute was good.

“It wasn’t a case of resting on our lead. It was a good performance and a good result. It was a pleasing day.”

On the performance of Norwood, Duff said: “That’s probably the best we’ve seen him.

“The most pleasing thing for me is that the ball stuck, it gave us a platform to get up the pitch.

“He’s trained really well in the week, that’s why he got the nod.”

On Aitchison’s display, Duff said: “He looked like he enjoyed it. He gives us loads of different things, he’s a different type of forward. I’m really pleased for him.”

Duff was impressed with Barnsley’s third goal and said: “It was a brilliant goal. The quality of the passes from Luca (Connell) and Adam (Phillips) was great. The quality of Jordan Williams’ touch before his goal was excellent.”

Accrington boss John Coleman was downbeat, saying: “It’s happened too many times this season, we’ve beat ourselves in the first 10 minutes of the game.

“Within eight minutes you’re 2-0 down, the game is more or less over. We let them walk through us for the third goal, after 19 minutes you might as well go home.

“We seem to have two ways of playing, if we stay in the game we’re alright. But we’ve been beat too many times in the opening 15 minutes of games.

“We were a little better in the second half, but you ask yourself if they’ve eased off the gas.

“This is taking nothing away from Barnsley, they were good. They pressed us really well the whole game but they didn’t have to do anything to win, we’ve gifted them goals.

“There will be no rest days, we’ll be back in tomorrow to analyse it and try and get it right for Tuesday.

“There’s no point moaning about it, you’ve got to be switched on.”

On the travelling fans, Coleman said: “Our travelling fans were superb today. They’re a credit to the club and themselves, I wish we could pay them back.”