Barnsley FC boss Daniel Stendel on 'tough situation' on and off pitch as Reds suffer fifth straight loss at Luton Town
BARNSLEY head coach Daniel Stendel admitted that the struggling League One club are in a tough situation both on and off the pitch - following his side's fifth successive competitive defeat in a 2-1 reverse at Luton Town.
On a day which saw the Reds confirm the departure of chief executive officer Jon Flatman to Cardiff Rugby - after he works his notice - Stendel's side put the price for a poor first half at Kenilworth Road, which saw them concede two set-piece goals.
A strike from Makenzie Kirk gave the visitors hope on the restart, but Luton held out.
Barnsley are now 22nd in the third-tier table. Thy have conceded 27 goals in their past eight winless games in all competitions.
Stendel said: "It’s a tough situation. Not only for us as a team, also for the club.
"But what I learned in this club, when situations are like that, everybody stays together and fights against a situation like this. And I can only say, in my time here, I worked well with Jon together, and he tried to help me a lot.
"But we will see what happens in the next few weeks. But we have to focus on our performance on the pitch.”
Former Oakwell favourite Mads Andersen converted a downward header from Jamie Donley's free-kick to put the Hatters in front early.
It was 2-0 in the 41st minute, Liam Walsh's free-kick met by George Johnston for Nahki Wells to nod in.
Barnsley pulled one back in the 58th minute, with half-time substitute Kirk firing home.
Stendel added: "We cannot accept the performance like in the first half. We want to do so much.
"The atmosphere before the game in the locker room was so positive, and after one minute, the first set piece, we conceded again the goal. And it's not a reason that we have not trained. It's not a reason why Luton is so good in that. It was the desire to defend the headers in this situation.
"And the second goal was the same. It was really frustrating in the half-time and I was a little bit louder. There was a reaction in the second half but in the end, last two games we talked about the first half, today about the second half.
"When you want to get really some things in this league, you have to play two halves with this performance.”