THE GAME
Rovers were beaten 2-1 at Oakwell; the home side opened the scoring early on but Matt Taylor’s side were back on level terms at the interval. However, they conceded what turned out to be the winner after 65 minutes.
Taylor made one change to the side that beat Cambridge United seven days earlier, recalling Luke McCormick in place of Kamil Conteh who was away on international duty with Sierra Leone.
Barnsley forced Rovers back early on and created a number of chances before Josh Griffiths twice saved from Barry Cotter before Davis Keillor-Dunn, making his Barnsley debut, scored with 11 minutes on the clock after being played in by Luca Connell.
Griffiths touched a header from Marc Roberts over the bar as Barnsley seatched for a second goal. However, Rovers managed to equalise when Ruel Sotiriou capitalised on a defensive mix up and was able to roll the ball into an empty net.
Ruel Sotiriou celebrates his first Rovers goal
Gabriel Solina saved from Promise Omochere early in the second half as Rovers looked a different side to the one that had been under the cosh for long periods before the break.
In spite of that, it was the home side that scored again when Cotter’s cross from the right saw Adam Phillips head powerfully past Griffiths. Rovers hit back well and substitute Scott Sinclair curled a shot just over the bar while three late corners in quick succession came to nothing and Barnsley were able to hold on to record their first home win in the league since February.
THEY SAID WHAT?
‘I’ve got a disappointed dressing room. In terms of the game as a spectacle and a performance, we weren’t too far away. We started on the back foot while Barnsley started brighter and moved quicker than us in the first 15 – 20 minutes.
‘As the game progressed, we used the ball better than we had done and created enough chances to not only be level, but possibly be ahead. Then it’s one moment of quality that they win the game with.
‘We just weren’t quite snappy enough in our gane to start with and had to chase the game from a goal behind. That said if we play like that away from home then, more often that not, we will be absolutely fine.’ (Rovers manager Matt Taylor)
‘It was disappointing as the boys put everything into the game and we were just unlucky not to come away with anything. On another day we would have taken at least a point from the game.
‘Coming to places like this, you know what you’re going to get. I think in the first 25 minutes you have to weather the storm and, when we got an opportunity, we took it.
‘The beginning of the second half was alright, from our point of view and it felt like it was an open game. The Mem is a fortress and we just have to keep going and take things game by game. Our next match is at home, so we know the crowd will be mainly our fans and will be right behind us.’ (Rovers defender Clinton Mola)
‘With chucking away a couple of points against Northampton in our last home league game, it was important that we got back to winning ways here as quickly as possible.
‘Hopefully the boys can gain confidence from that and get better at the things we aren’t quite good enough at. In the first half we didn’t deal with long balls well. We didn’t have enough control at the back and that’s why we made the change for the start of the second half.
‘We were better in the second half. We had a bit more control in that area when they did go a bit long and that’s something we’ve got to learn from.’ (Barnsley manager Darrell Clarke)
