'Hurting' Barnsley boss Conor Hourihane on derby loss to Rotherham United, league table and updates on Josh Earl & Adam Phillips
BARNSLEY head coach Conor Houirhane professed his frustration after a 1-0 reverse to Rotherham United at Oakwell - but felt that his players couldn't have given him much more after the hosts dominated much of derby day.
Despite dominance in terms of chances and certainly possession, the one moment of class and true quality came from the Millers, with Kian Spence's fine 64th-minute strike securing a first league win in 56 years for the visitors in Barnsley.
The loss extended Barnsley's winless run at league level to five matches, with the Millers now just a point behind them in the League One table.
Hourihane, whose side last triumphed in the league on September 13, said: "I am really frustrated, the lads are really frustrated. We started the game really, really well, five, six, seven corners in a row I think.
"It's as close to a dominant first half as you're going to get really.
"Could we have been a little bit better on the ball at times? Absolutely. Overall, I think they've had one shot and ended up scoring a goal and we're sat here after getting beat 1-0.
"I don't think the lads can give me much more today. I'll always say to the lads and be really honest with them if I feel they can give me more, but today I really feel for them because they've given me everything.
"Did we have the territory and the momentum and did we play some good stuff to try and get to the final third? Absolutely. Could we have committed more bodies into the box?; potentially.
"But I still feel like we shouldn't be sat here when they literally have one shot and then we end up losing. So, (it’s) really frustrating.
"I'm hurting, the lads are hurting and today I feel for the lads.
"I think looking at the league table now to probably three or four weeks ago, it doesn't look as good as what we would like it to be.
"But then again, we've got games in hand. I still think we're six points away from that line of top six.
"Ultimately, we need to start winning games in football and not worrying about that right now."
Hourihane said that Josh Earl missed the game through a back injury, while he expects Adam Phillips to be out for 'a couple of weeks.'
He added: "They both trained yesterday.
"Josh Earl has got a bad back spasm that he couldn't get over in time for the game.
"I was very comfortable with having Robbo (Marc Roberts) in the back line, there's no issue with that. And Philo tried to train on his hamstring that he came off on Tuesday night and it's just not as good as what we thought it would be.
"So, Josh should be next week, later on in the week, ready for York and Phillo will probably be a couple of weeks out."