So-so Barnsley FC can draw plusses and minuses from 1-0 Blackpool defeat

It was not just because the Reds failed to get a shot on target during 90 very wet minutes, or that after Jordan Rhodes buried the first of their three attempts, the Tangerines sat back and challenged Neill Collins side to see what they could do about it.

Barnsley were not that bad. They could, and should, have won for the third time in six home games but instead they lost a fourth match, all against teams from ‘division one’ of what in recent years has become a two-tier League One.

Collins misread Blackpool's intentions before kick-off and his team were not forceful enough in the first 45 minutes. But he recognised as much at half-time and the introduction of Sam Cosgrove, Nicky Cadden and Barry Cotter from the bench improved things. They might have had a penalty for handball in the 65th minute which could have changed everything. But they did not.

It would have been irrelevant had John McAtee or Max Watters put away very good chances. But they did not.

It could have been worse had Shane Lavery or Albie Morgan scored with rare late counter-attacks for Blackpool. But they did not.

On a day when Barnsley's youngest Football League debutant, Reuben Noble-Lazarus, was the guest of honour, Collins kept the Oakwell pipeline chugging with a first league start for 18-year-old midfielder Theo Chapman, picked with Adam Phillips ill and Josh Benson overlooked.

Thompson did... okay, making way at half-time so Collins could change formation and emphasis with targetman Cosgrove.

"The game we expected would have been perfect for Theo, the game we got was very different," explained Collins. "I thought there would be lots of spaces for him to run into, I thought Blackpool would be aggressive and leave the pitch more open.

"He didn't get to show just how good he can be but that's fine."

In a season where South Yorkshire's two most high-profile clubs are in an epic race to the bottom, where Doncaster Rovers were until recently propping up the 92, and Rotherham United are fighting to keep their head above Championship water, Barnsley are doing okay.

With 10 games gone, league tables are starting to take shape and the Reds are a point and a place outside the play-off places which should be their target after coming so close in last season's competition. Form suggests the assessment when we break for internationals after two more away games could be better.

"Not an awful lot went particularly wrong," reflected Collins.

"As a squad I don't think we did too much wrong," chimed Cosgrove, who after pause for thought classed his personal start to the season as "average".

Barnsley's only real chances of the opening half-hour came when McAtee and Devante Cole each won the ball off defenders and gave it to their strike partner, only for the shots to be blocked.

In between time Blackpool used the pace of Chris Hamilton – frightening on the few occasions they did – to win a penalty as Corey O'Keeffe brought him down. Rhodes sent Liam Roberts the wrong way and Blackpool had something to cling to, which they did.

Once Cosgrove led the line, Cole could drop deeper to good effect and when Collins changed both wing-backs just before the hour, the service noticeably improved.

Cotter's first touch went just wide as the corner he came on at was half-cleared to him, and a centre was bound for Cole's forehead until a defender touched it away. Cadden's first cross was a smidgeon from a sliding Cole, his second struck a Blackpool hand.

"People told me when I came not to expect too much from the referees," said Collins, working in America for the last seven years. "I thought that was typical fans but I'm quickly realising one penalty last season wasn't an anomaly."

Occasionally dropping between the advanced midfielders, Chapman and Callum Styles, McAtee was Barnsley's brightest light in the dull first half but his last touch of the game should have been an equaliser, ballooning Cosgrove's pull-back before being substituted.

Watters scuffed a Cole pass begging to be scored right at the death.

If Barnsley learn the lessons they talked of afterwards it might have been a good day after all, if they miss the play-offs by a point or three, it will be one of the matches to blame.

Barnsley: Roberts; Williams, de Gevigney, McCart; O'Keeffe (Cotter 58), Kane, Dodgson (Cadden 58); Chapman (Cosgrove HT), Styles; McAtee (Watters 75), Cole. Unused substitutes: Russell, Killip, Shepherd.

Blackpool: Grimshaw; Connolly, Casey, Husband; Dale (Ekpiteta 84), Weir (Morgan 63), Dougall, Norburn, Hamilton; Kouassi (Lavery 63), Rhodes (Carey 89). Unused substitutes: O'Donnell, Dembele, Thompson.

Referee: C Breakspear (Surrey).