Shaun Maloney believes Wigan deserved their point at Barnsley

Posted Tuesday, January 02, 2024 by PA

Wigan head coach Shaun Maloney praised his side’s reaction to going behind after they came from a goal down to earn a point in a 1-1 draw with Barnsley.

Devante Cole opened the scoring for the Tykes before Jonny Smith curled in an equaliser late on.

Maloney said: “I really liked how we played. We changed our style today because of how good Barnsley are when they press you high.

“It’s one of those games where you go in 1-0 (down) at half-time and there wasn’t actually anything wrong with the game.

“With the chances we created, we shouldn’t be going in 1-0 behind.

“The least we deserved today was a draw, I’m really happy with the performance.”

On his side’s reaction to going behind, Maloney said: “We didn’t really need to change much, we didn’t need to react, we didn’t need to make anything tactically different.

“I was just really pleased with the first half, we just had to be a little bit more aggressive in certain positions.

“We didn’t need to change anything at half-time, we created three or four chances that on another day we should score.”

On Smith’s goal, Maloney said: “Jonny’s deserved it, he’s had to be patient for a couple of months. He had a really difficult injury at the start of the season. He’s got that talent.

“We’ve got good players; we’ve got a good squad. I know it’s a little bit inconsistent at times. Maybe a little bit too inconsistent, but we’ve got a good group.”

Barnsley head coach Neill Collins was disappointed to not win.

He said: “We’ve not conceded many like that, we’ve maybe scored a couple. We were on the end of a superb strike.

“They were pressing us and ultimately they got the goal, which was a fantastic goal and they pushed us right to the end.

“Frustrating not to get three points. We were ahead and probably looked like we were going to see it out despite not being at our best, but we’ll take the point and recognise that it’s been a really tough four games in 10 days.”

On the amount of points picked up in the last four games, Collins said: “Two points a game is always good. Ten was our aim and I think our Peterborough performance was one of those nights where we got punished quite heavily.

“It kind of summed it up that they (Wigan) scored their goal after we had our best opportunity in a four versus two breakaway and should’ve probably ended with a shot at goal.

“Lots for us to think about but ultimately, I think everyone should be really positive with the batch of last four games and not take the second half performance out of perspective.”