Barnsley ‘devoid of energy, enthusiasm and quality’ against Exeter City - but Reds have been here before

Barnsley learnt that lesson in November, when their unbeaten away run was brutally brought to an end by Derby County.

Neill Collins’ men were lifeless that day at Pride Park but it proved to be the catalyst for an 11-game unbeaten run encompassing home and away fixtures.

Over two months later, Barnsley were abject again as Exeter City threw a roadblock in their path.

As frustrating as the display was, there can perhaps be comfort in the fact Barnsley have been here before. Not only have they been here before, they have emerged from the disappointment stronger.

With promotion to the Championship still a very real possibility, the Reds must summon some of the same strength they did in November after defeat to Derby.

Speaking after the loss to Exeter, Collins said: “There’s going to be ups and downs between now and the end of the season. We’ve had a good unbeaten run but I think we take every game on its own merit and today, we’ll look back and think that was a real frustrating afternoon to give up points. If you can’t get three, you get one.

“But not to have any today, we’ll regret that I think. It’ll be up to the players, like they did after we lost at Derby, to regroup, go ‘right, what lessons do we need to learn?’, and make sure they don’t happen again.”

Former Reds frontman Jack Aitchison opened the scoring at Oakwell, punishing his former club for not clearing their lines.

Reece Cole struck to double the lead, finding the back of the net with a curling effort that had travelling fans purring.

Barnsley rallied in the second half, emerging from the break with considerably more zip. However, they were left to rue not gaining a foothold in the game sooner.

Collins said: “We should’ve got the goal earlier. We get the goal earlier, I think we go and draw that game, if not win that game.

“We still made a great effort. But if we’d for the goal earlier, I think we would’ve given ourselves a far superior chance, and we should’ve got the goal earlier.

“It wasn’t like we just pushed on in the last 10 minutes. We pushed on from the first whistle in the second half. We made chances but didn’t quite take them.

“We created a bucketload of chances so that’s very frustrating. Had we been better in the first half and not given up two goals, we’d have given ourselves a chance of winning that game.”

Collins was scathing in his post-match assessment but even the visibly frustrated Scot found reasons for optimism.

He hailed the performance of Mael de Gevigney, who looked assured even when those around him were all at sea.

Collins said: “I think we were off it in every aspect of the game. I don't think there was one positive outside of Mael de Gevigney.

“He held us together in the first half in terms of showing that desire, despite how poor we were, to hold us together. But outside of that, we were devoid of energy, enthusiasm and quality.

"It was a very, very difficult first half to watch. Right now, we're still emotional and frustrated about it.”

Among those responsible for the second-half upturn was Sam Cosgrove, an imposing forward who has been a bit-part player for the Reds this term.

Collins said: “Sam came on, I think Sam would have been disappointed not to start the game. Max [Watters], along with many others, was disappointing first-half. We are a team, very much a collective, so we need to rely on each other. The team was just not functioning so I just had to make a change at half-time.

"We knew Sam would give us the ability to get the ball forward quick, give Exeter more to think about, because we weren’t playing with as much quality as we needed to break them down. Sam, outside of scoring a goal, helped us with that.”

Next up for the Reds is a clash with Bolton Wanderers, the side they defeated en route to the League One play-off final last year.

The Trotters are flying high in second place and Collins is aware of the need for improvement if the Reds are to bounce back immediately.

He said: “We'll need to vastly improve our first-half performance to have a chance of winning there.”

Barnsley: Roberts, Williams, de Gevigney, Shepherd; O’Keeffe (Cotter 45), Russell (Connell 70), Phillips, McAtee, Cadden; Watters (Cosgrove 45), Cole.

Unused substitutes: Killip, Lopata, Atkinson, Marsh.

Exeter City: Sinisalo, Sweeney, Diabate, Jules; Niskanen, Cole (Kite 81), Carroll (Taylor 81), Harper (Hartridge 64); Aitchinson, Rankine (Watts 81), Cox (Wildschut 70).

Unused substitutes: MacDonald, Fitzwater.

Referee: Thomas Kirk (Yorkshire)