Conor Hourihane felt his Barnsley side deserved something out of the game after rescuing a late draw against relegation-threatened Wigan Athletic on Wednesday night.
The Tykes trailed the visitors at Oakwell for over an hour and looked to have set themselves further back in their quest to reach the playoffs, but were rescued with a 96th-minute equaliser from January signing Charlie Lennon.
The result keeps the Yorkshire side eight points behind Reading in sixth, but with two games in hand on the Royals, Hourihane’s squad are by no means out of contention ahead of their derby against Doncaster Rovers this weekend.
A night to remember for Charlie ❤️ pic.twitter.com/iWLQDjt2ks
— Barnsley FC (@BarnsleyFC) March 17, 2026
Hourihane Frustrated At Efforts
Speaking to the club’s media following the match, Barnsley manager Conor Hourihane was frank with his side’s efforts in the opening half of the game, which cost them dearly with Joe Taylor finding the net just shy of the half-hour mark.
“We came into these two home games, against Wigan and Doncaster, wanting to really attack them and see what we could take from both fixtures. But in that first half, we simply weren’t at it.
Wigan were happy to sit back, and they’re obviously fighting for their lives, so they’ll take anything they can from the game. We made it even more difficult for ourselves by giving them a leg-up with a poor goal from our point of view. If you give a team that’s battling at the bottom a sloppy goal, they’re going to sit back even more and make it even harder to break them down.
So yes, I was really disappointed with the first half, and I made that clear to the players at half-time because I wanted more. Credit to the substitutes tonight — they all came on and made an impact. They gave the game a different dimension and brought a real freshness.
And to be honest, on the balance of play and with the territory we had in the second half, we probably deserved to take something from the game.”
Tykes Need To Lock In
With limited opportunities to try and salvage their season, Barnsley need to put together a run which will get them over the line for the playoffs, which will in turn feed them confidence that they can go to Wembley and into the Championship.
However, their recent performances have been anything but confident, with their struggles nearly costing them dearly against Wigan Athletic if not for the late goal from substitute Charlie Lennon.
With a fairly easy fixture list until an April showdown against fourth-placed Bradford City, now is the perfect time for Barnsley to try and string positive results together and place themselves in the best possible position.
However, should they fall short, questions will need to be raised as to how they ended up missing the top six for the second straight season, especially after the January window and the sale of star forward Davis Keillor-Dunn, someone who undoubtedly would have given them a decisive edge in matches like this Wigan draw.