Martin Devaney hails Gabriel Slonina’s heroics as Barnsley reach second round

Posted Wednesday, August 14, 2024 by PA

Barnsley assistant coach Martin Devaney hailed debutant goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina for his heroics as his two saves in Tuesday night’s penalty shoot-out against Wigan saw them progress to the second round of the Carabao Cup.

The summer signing saved spot-kicks from Josh Stones and Thelo Aasgaard to see the visitors progress 4-2 in an all-League One encounter following a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes at The Brick Community Stadium.

Wigan’s Aasgaard opened the scoring after 34 minutes from 12 yards out after Calvin Ramsay was taken down in the box, before Barnsley defender Donovan Pines levelled from a corner early on in the second half.

But Slonina made it a first appearance to remember, paired with successful penalties from Adam Phillips, Josh Earl, Max Watters and Jonathan Russell.

“He’s done really well,” said Devaney.

“We’ve all been looking forward to watching him tonight and seeing how he handles his debut and all in all, he’s done really well.

“He’s come out the hero, I suppose.”

Wigan boss Shaun Maloney meanwhile was not impressed by his side’s second-half display, having gone into the break 1-0 ahead before conceding just minutes into the return.

“The second half, we definitely didn’t deserve to win that game,” the Scotsman said.

“There were some good chances at key moments, but in the last half-hour, they were definitely better than us.

“The first half was fine, we controlled the game. We were in reasonably dangerous areas. But almost as soon as we conceded, we lost control of the game and were probably fortunate not to lose it in the second half.”