Barnsley boss Conor Hourihane makes 'reality check' admission after defeat to Port Vale
Barnsley boss Conor Hourihane described his side’s 2-0 home defeat to Port Vale as a “reality check”.
After a strong start to the season, the Reds have endured a difficult seven days. A defeat to Blackpool last week was followed by a Carabao Cup mauling against Brighton & Hove Albion and Port Vale have now made it three consecutive losses.
Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel gave Port Vale the lead at Oakwell before the lead was extended late on by Ryan Croasdale.
Barnsley now sit eighth in the League One table, two points outside of the play-offs.
Reality check admission
Hourihane said: “Obviously it’s disappointing. We don’t like losing games of football. It’s been a disappointing week for us in general. Seven days in football is a long time - you have three games in a week.
“I think it’s probably a bit of a reality check for everyone in terms of what we did at the start of the season. I always said that, not to get too high and not to get too low.”
The Reds did not register a single shot on target against Darren Moore’s men, despite having 13 efforts and dominating possession. Hourihane, however, did not throw his attacking players to the wolves.
Worrying statistic addressed
He said: “I think the attackers have had lots of plaudits. We’ve got some very good attacking players and we can’t rely on them every single game.
“There’s some games where they’ll have off games and they’ll come alive in others. It’s an important couple of games now.
“Can we bounce back with a couple of good performances and hopefully that will lead into results as well.”
Barnsley will be back in action on Tuesday (September 30), when they will visit Notts County for a Vertu Trophy clash. League action will then resume with a trip to Michael Duff’s Wycombe Wanderers next weekend.