Nottingham Forest v Barnsley – Lack of goals no concern to the Reds

RESULTS may suggest otherwise, but Barnsley are getting back to their old selves.
Christopher Stern: Confident.Christopher Stern: Confident.
Christopher Stern: Confident.

That is the view of assistant head coach Christopher Stern and while the Reds make a familiar trip to the banks of the Trent on the back of a seven-match winless sequence in all competitions, the green shoots of recovery are there to see.

It was showcased, in the eyes of Stern, in the gritty Roses draw against Wigan and the unfortunate 2-0 loss to leaders Leeds United last time out – when Barnsley produced an excellent display for the majority of the game, only to fall away late on.

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It was a display that drew praise from rival head coach Marcelo Bielsa and Stern believes that if performances mean anything, then Barnsley should reacquaint themselves with the wins column pretty soon.

Stern said: “It started against Wigan where we had a good game considering all the players who were out.

“We worked hard during the international break and the performance and intensity in the Leeds game was at least the standard we must have for every game.

“From Wigan and Leeds, we can say we have our Barnsley team back. We were close to grabbing a point or winning the game against the top side in the league and this makes us confident and it is the way we need to stick to.”

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It will also not be lost on supporters that both performances, however promising, yielded no goals with Daniel Stendel’s side having now netted just once in their past four league outings.

But Stern, insists now is not the time for overdue worry.

He added: “The good thing is we are having good chances and shots and are creating and getting shots off. Not only from one player, but we had a couple of players who had good positions at the weekend.

“It is the luck in the game that you need. But long-term, we are confident that if we are in the position where we can get shots off, we will score and we have the players who have the quality to do that.”