After seeing his team play League One play-offs “to the wire” against Bolton Wanderers, Barnsley interim head coach Martin Devaney admitted to having mixed emotions. The Lancastrians advanced to Wembley thanks to a 5-4 aggregate victory over two semi-final legs.
In the first meeting at Oakwell, Bolton emerged victorious 3-1, with to goals in quick succession from Aaron Collins and Eoin Toal before the half. Sam Cosgrove had opened the scoring for the Reds in the 36th minute.Bolton looked home and hosed, but they were unable to complete the tie on the restart, and in the final thirty minutes, Barnsley showed incredible grit.
..After a deflected strike from Adam Phillips pulled the visitors level for the game at2-2, Cosgrove headed in his second goal to give the home team a nervous finish as the Reds surged up 3-2.
Barnsley made every effort to score another goal and force extra time, but Wanderers held firm to secure their spot in the championship game. The last whistle signaled the beginning of a pitch invasion following a dramatic finish.
“It was a hell of a game and we took them to the wire,” Devaney said following Barnsley’s first victory in nine games across all competitions. Devaney has since stated he is not a contender for the open full-time head coach position.
“But losing the first game and giving up a late goal has really crushed us, especially since the goalie was called for a foul in Bolton’s third goal.
“Devante (Cole) gets taken off the field for their first goal, a penalty and an error led to their second goal, and a foul led to their third goal. We are injured, but that’s football, so we shouldn’t cry over it.
But here, we truly displayed our spirit and grit. The players’ ability was demonstrated by their coming here and giving that performance. Sam created a lot of issues for us as we pushed forward and struck diagonals, and we also picked up the second balls.
“We took them to the wire, and that’s how we want to see a Barnsley team, so I thought we were well worth it.” advancing, displaying that fortitude and integrity, and exerting pressure. We accomplished all of those objectives, in my opinion, and I was quite pleased of the guys.
“In order to regain control of the game, we had to demonstrate true fortitude and tenacity. It was excellent. That’s what I anticipate from a Barnsley perspective.”
Declaring his dissatisfaction, Devaney said, “It’s a set-piece and that’s been a problem all season” after Barnsley gave up another goal from a set-play to put Bolton up 2-1.
Declaring his dissatisfaction, Devaney said, “It’s a set-piece and that’s been a problem all season” after Barnsley gave up another goal from a set-play to put Bolton up 2-1. Set pieces have caused us great harm. It isn’t a night to point fingers; instead, we take stock and make improvements for the upcoming season.
“We ought to have been penalized, in my opinion, since it may have made a difference. However, it wasn’t meant to be, and this season, things haven’t exactly worked out.”
Ian Evatt, the manager of Wanderers, was pleased with the outcome over two legs after his team was defeated by Barnsley at the same stage of the play-offs a year earlier. However, he acknowledged that his happiness was clouded by the fact that his team had a very nervous second half in terms of defense.
“For us, it’s another learning curve,” he went on. The game was stagnating when a straightforward mistake gave the opposition impetus once more, and our response to that goal was subpar.
“There was a suspenseful and somewhat anti-climactic second half. However, we must have fun as we’ve accomplished enough in the previous two games to be there and we’re just one game away from our goal.
“I’ll get to a happy place eventually, but for now it was more uncomfortable than necessary.
“The game was stalling; we had completed the difficult portion in the first half, and then they scored a goal due to a ridiculous error.
“We were aiming for promotion, and we feel like we’re only one game away from achieving it.
“However, what I said at full time will be ringing in the players’ ears. We need to perform better than we did in the second half, I had to tell them.
