Poya Asbaghi: Barnsley FC derby display was Reds 'best' of my time in charge so far

BARNSLEY head coach Poya Asbaghi felt that his side’s derby performance against Huddersfield Town was comfortably the best of his time in charge so far - even if his winless start as Reds’ chief extended to three matches.
Barnsley FC head coach Poya Asbaghi, pictured in his technical area against Huddersfield Town. Picture: Bruce Rollinson.Barnsley FC head coach Poya Asbaghi, pictured in his technical area against Huddersfield Town. Picture: Bruce Rollinson.
Barnsley FC head coach Poya Asbaghi, pictured in his technical area against Huddersfield Town. Picture: Bruce Rollinson.

BARNSLEY head coach Poya Asbaghi felt that his side’s derby performance against Huddersfield Town was comfortably the best of his time in charge so far - even if his winless start as Reds’ chief extended to three matches.

The Reds secured a point courtesy of a first goal of the season from Carlton Morris just before half-time, which cancelled out Lewis O’Brien’s opener on 33 minutes.

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Particularly in the first period, the Reds produced some nice combinations and approach play, without creating a surfeit of chances.

Despite not going onto score a second goal after Morris’s strike - the club’s first goal of the Asbaghi era - the Swede said he was able to reflect on progress after last week’s bore draw at Peterborough.

He said: “Since I arrived, it was the best (performance) by far.

“We are developing and what we took from last weekend was solid defence and we didn’t concede so many chances and got a clean sheet.

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“We knew from that game that we had to improve our offence a lot and we looked to add that today and put a lot of focus on that.

“There were big, big improvements. We played, especially in the first half, really good football for long periods and created chances and pushed Huddersfield down.

“The feeling going into half-time was that we were the better team and we got a good start in the second half. But the more the half went, maybe we got a little bit more stressed with the ball and we lost balls a little bit too easy.

“We had to chase a lot and that made his pretty tired and looking at us after 70 to 75 minutes, we were not as fresh as I would like us to be and it took away some energy to chase the decisive goal.

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“The second half was not bad, but it could have been much better. The first half was really good.

“It is a little bit of mixed feelings and I am not sitting here super-happy because you know you want to win, especially at home. But as a coach, what is important is to see progress.

“We adapted fast and we do not have the time to wait four or five weeks to start understanding what we mean. Other teams can maybe afford that, but we are in a much more challenging situation.

“I think there has been a lot of progress though.”