Paul talks after the game
“I am a little disappointed having been 2-1 up, we looked as though we were going to go on and win the game. So to switch off from a throw in like that isn’t good enough. You’ve got to manage the game. We were 2-1 up and I thought we dropped too deep after we went ahead, and we stopped doing the things that got us back in the game and put us in front, but it’s another point to the total.
Barnsley put us under a lot of pressure. They put a lot of balls in the box, but from our point of view defensively we’ve been really good recently, and I just felt we dropped too deep and invited the pressure onto us. We got back in the game and went ahead because we kept a high line and pushed forward.
A lot of the game and the pressure was in their half and we didn’t want to allow them to get near our box because they were a threat when they put balls in the box. With Proschwitz up front they are a handful in the box so we wanted to try and restrict that. We wanted to keep them out the box as much as possible because of their arial threat, and we did that for the majority of the game, and then for some reason when we went 2-1 up we just dropped too deep allowing them a way back in.
Everybody knows that we should have had a penalty. The fourth official has told the referee at the time that it was a penalty over the mic.but we got nothing. Having said that, I thought their disallowed goal was a goal that should have stood as well. If we’re going to be honest about it, they were two big decisions and I’m not sure the decisions were right. And Dean Furman is through on goal at the end and he’s a yard onside but the linesman flagged him off.
They’re big big decisions in the game that the officials should be getting right. It wasn’t a hard one, he was in line with it. The penalty decision and the Barnsley disallowed goal were also not hard decisions in a big game.
Barnsley were probably fuelled because of the pressure they put on us at the end, they might have won it. And we feel that having gone 2-1 up we were much the better side and put them under a lot of pressure and should have won the game, so I suppose from that it is a fair result, but to concede from a throw in in the 89th minute like that has made me a bit angry to be honest.
On Jordan Bowery:
“Jordan is a kid I’ve watched for a long time now, I’ve tried to get him a few times and haven’t been able to. But he’s a kid with a big future. He has a lot of pace and a lot of strength. He only came in on Friday so once the players get to know his strengths I think he will do well for us. We have him on a one month loan initially. Billy is out for three big games, Theo Robinson still a week or two to go so with Jordan coming in and Theo on his way back, it gives us a lot of pace and power up front which is something I think we have missed at times. He hasn’t had too much game time so just cramped up at the end there but he was probably a bit too honest in that situation. He took the ball round the keeper and most people would have gone down in that situation but he didn’t and just cramped up so we took him off as a precaution.
“Proschwitz is a real handful up front and we knew that before the game. For the majority of the game, any crosses they were putting in were coming from deep and that’s what we wanted to do. The more we dropped off, the more pressure you put on yourselves as a back four and the more pressure you’re going to get with attempts on your goal. Proschwitz is someone we have watched a lot so we know his strengths. It’s just disappointing that defensively we have been really good lately and we just dropped a bit too deep and paid the price.
Next week is a massive game for us regardless if we won, lost or drew against Barnsley. Every game we play between now and the end of the season where we can pull ourselves away from the drop zone are huge games. People will look at the table and say other teams have got games in hand but I would much rather have the points in the bag than be in their situation where they’re playing every Saturday and Tuesday for the next few weeks.
Sam Johnstone was fantastic again today. An uncharacteristic mistake from him for the first goal yes, he got caught out with the bounce of the ball, but it shouldn’t have come to that anyway. They’ve put a cross in the box and we haven’t cleared the ball well enough. So it was a bizarre goal, both first goals were really. There were errors from both teams.
On Coppinger and Duffy:
They offer us so much in the wide positions. They are really good players. Copps has been fantastic for us recently since coming back. We’ve been on at him to get in the box more often and he’s done that today and got his 2 goals, which is why we’ve been wanting him to do that. He was fantastic.
Copps knows what I think of him. He is a top player and professional. He’s been fantastic for this club, and he’s been fantastic for me since I got here.