'We were really poor first half': Darrell Clarke angered by Barnsley's tame effort against Wigan

Barnsley manager Darrell Clarke blamed a poor first-half performance for their home defeat to Wigan Athletic.

Already struggling for consistency at Oakwell, despite a good win over Rotherham United last time out, Barnsley lost to a 42nd-minute goal from Thelo Aasgaard when he headed in Ben Killip’s centre.

Barnsley went close when Davis Keillor-Dunn spotted goalkeeper Sam Tickle off his line. The forward promptly squared from the right flank into the area for Stephen Humphrys but the keeper recovered to save.

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Connell put an effort wide, as did Roberts as the home side failed to draw level, defeat bringing an end to their five-game unbeaten run in League One.

Not happy: Barnsley manager Darrell Clarke let his feelings be known at full-time over his side's first-half performance. (Picture: Bruce Rollinson)Not happy: Barnsley manager Darrell Clarke let his feelings be known at full-time over his side's first-half performance. (Picture: Bruce Rollinson)
Not happy: Barnsley manager Darrell Clarke let his feelings be known at full-time over his side's first-half performance. (Picture: Bruce Rollinson)

Clarke said: “It was a really, really poor first half. I wasn’t happy with our press, our ball retention, our build-up play.

"That was disappointing because we’ve done a lot of work to make sure we get those bits right.

“We gave the ball away when we had a simple pass. It was very sloppy.

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“If you drop off the intensity levels required to win games at this level, you come up short.

“We were off it, certainly in that first half. In the second half, we were trying to get the ball into their box but they defended well.

“We’ve certainly got to be a lot better. You have got to be at it every single day. We conceded a real poor goal from our perspective. That was their only effort on target in the game.

“We huffed and puffed but it doesn’t paper over what was a really poor first half.

“I expect more from my team. It’s all about reaction.

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"We have to perform a lot better on Tuesday night against Reading. We have to make sure the game plan is a lot better executed.”

Wigan boss Shaun Maloney said: “We were good in the first half. We were aggressive.”

Barnsley: Killip, de Gevigney, Roberts, Earl, O'Keeffe (Cosgrove 57), Phillips (Jalo 57), Connell (Lofthouse 87), Russell (Nwakali 57), Gent (Pines 57), Humphrys, Keillor-Dunn. Unused substitutes: Smith, Craig.

Wigan: Tickle, Sibbick, Kerr, Aimson, Sessegnon (Robinson 78), Adeeko, Francois (S Smith 45), Rankine (J Smith 71), Aasgaard (Weir 71), Thomas (Carragher 78), Taylor. Unused substitutes: Watson, Asamoah.

Referee: T Reeves (Birmingham).

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