Neill Collins hails Barnsley reaction after beating Northampton

Posted Sunday, September 24, 2023 by PA

Barnsley boss Neill Collins was thrilled with his side’s response after they bounced back to winning ways by beating Northampton 2-1 at Sixfields.

Defeated by Portsmouth in midweek, the Tykes were ahead after just four minutes thanks to a brilliant volley by Callum Styles.

There was little between the teams for most of the game but Devante Cole’s ninth goal of the season two minutes from time confirmed victory for Barnsley, with Louis Appere’s stoppage-time strike nothing more than a consolation.

Collins said: “We got the early goal but there were some difficult moments in the first half and they had a lot of set-pieces.

“But I thought we defended really well as a team and controlled the second half. It was only in the last five minutes when we down to 10 men due to Kacper Lopata’s injury when they really put us under pressure.

“For most of game we were really good and we saw through the toughest parts of the game and then we looked like we would go on and score a second and third goal.

“To put in a good team performance like that and get a positive result is a good response from the other night. The only disappointment was not getting a clean sheet because I thought we deserved one.

“The first goal was a bit of quality. You wouldn’t expect anyone to score from there but as soon as Callum hit it I thought it had a chance of going in.

“It’s another great goal by Devante for the second. He was so unfortunate with the one that hit the bar but he doesn’t miss those.”

Northampton have now lost three games in a row and have seven points from their opening eight games.

“You can’t be giving away goals like we did,” admitted manager Jon Brady. “There’s no excuses for that.

“Any slight mistake we’re making at this level at the moment we’re bring ruthlessly punished and that was the case today.

“I don’t know what it looked like to other people but I felt we dominated the game against a team who were playing in the play-off final a few months ago.

“I went up and watched them against Portsmouth on Tuesday and it was such a high-level game.

“I felt the aggressiveness in both boxes was the difference.

“We put loads of crosses into the box in the first half but there was no-one getting across and I said that to the group. We had worked on it but there wasn’t that aggressiveness to arrive between the posts.

“You look at the quality they have on the bench, it’s unbelievable, but we were the team that was taking the game to them.”