Barnsley 1 Derby County 1: We should have done better, moans Robins

The Tykes needed in-form winger Adam Hammill to rescue a point from this npower Championship fixture at Oakwell.

Hammill was tormentor-in-chief when Barnsley defeated Leeds 5-2 in midweek and the former Liverpool trainee denied Derby their first win since the opening day by cancelling out Dean Leacock's first-half opener.

The 14th-minute goal was Leacock's first in nine years of professional football.

Robins said: "We set off okay and passed the ball around well at times. It was an elementary mistake to make that put us behind in the game.

"It feels like we've lost the game because of Tuesday night's performance.

"The confidence should have been high and it was in certain areas – the back four did well. We were strong to come back after losing a goal and we could have done a lot better.

"It's a disappointment. In the dressing room it's a flat feeling due to the fact we played so well on Tuesday and the players agree we should have done a lot better.

"When we got the ball in the right areas either the delivery was poor or the finishing.

"It was a strange game. Derby are a decent side.

"They set their stall out for a point and they closed the game down.

"They had a shape which was different with a spare man in midfield and we should have coped with it; they are a big club."

Barnsley failed to reach the heights they scaled on Tuesday night against a hard-working Derby side determined to end a five-game winless run, but created more openings than their visitors, who started the day in the bottom three after successive league defeats.

Barnsley were unchanged after routing Leeds, while Derby pair Robbie Savage and Tomasz Cywka made way in midfield for Kris Commons and Ben Pringle.

Commons wasted little time in making an impact, lashing a

25-yard shot over the crossbar in the opening exchanges, but the visitors were on target soon after.

Barnsley goalkeeper Luke Steele punched clear Pringle's 14th-minute corner and Leacock kept his composure to head home a bouncing ball inside the penalty area into the bottom corner.

Barnsley defender Jason Shackell was then wayward with a long-range shot and Adam Hammill dragged his angled drive wide before Garry O'Connor forced Derby goalkeeper Stephen Bywater into a comfortable save.

Hammill kept Bywater on his toes with another shot, Jacob Butterfield tried his luck from 30 yards and O'Connor's goalbound header was cleared by Derby defender Shaun Barker as Barnsley chased an equaliser.

Derby held onto their lead until the break, but were pegged back just three minutes into the second period following some sloppy defending. O'Connor played in Hammill and the in-form winger curled a shot from 12 yards inside the far post.

The Tykes twice threatened to take the lead straight after the restart as Bywater kept out Butterfield's 20-yard shot at full stretch, while Barker again proved Derby's last line of defence when he blocked Jim O'Brien's piledriver.

Derby midfielder Paul Green went close with a 25-yard shot, Shefki Kuqi pulled his effort wide from inside the penalty area and Pringle was not far off target with another long-range drive as Derby enjoyed a spell of pressure midway through the second half.

Tykes manager Robins replaced O'Brien and Andy Gray with Kieran Trippier and Liam Dickinson in the final quarter, but neither player was able to alter the course of the game and neither side was able to engineer further chances as the game ended in stalemate.

The point lifted the Rams out of the bottom three but boss Nigel Clough was not satisfied with his team's performance.

He explained: "We were guilty of bad decision making.

"We've got a point instead of three. We didn't look like a side in the bottom three.

"I thought we started well and just tried to be as positive as we can."

Clough added: "You wouldn't put a quid on Dean to score if you saw him in training.

"After we scored I thought we looked comfortable.

"I've told the players they have to concentrate at the start of the second half.

"We're just desperate to keep a clean sheet and as long as we give goals away it's going to be very difficult. If we do that we will be half way up the league," he added.

"On the back of two defeats it was a very difficult away game to come to.

"We are making all our mistakes in the first seven games."

Barnsley: Steele, Hassell, Foster, Shackell, McEveley, O'Brien (Trippier 74), Arismendi, Butterfield (Doyle 86), Hammill, Gray (Dickinson 81), O'Connor. Unused substitutes: Preece, Lovre, Morales Neumann, Devaney.

Derby County: Bywater, Brayford, Barker, Leacock, Moxey, Green, Pringle, Bailey, Commons (Cywka 71), Kuqi (O'Brien 90), Bueno (Pearson 65). Unused substitutes: Deeney, Savage, Martin, Doyle.

Referee: D Webb (County Durham).

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