Schumacher's Barnsley Reaction

After a goalless first half between Argyle and Barnsley at Oakwell, which the Pilgrims probably shaded, it looked like history may repeat itself.

Seven days earlier, Argyle were 0-0 at half-time, when top goalscorer Ryan Hardie scored nine seconds after the restart. Fast forward a week, and Hardie was through again, perhaps about 15 seconds in this time, but as he tried to go around Harry Isted, it was the home goalkeeper who won the duel.

Fifteen minutes later, Adam Phillips put Barnsley ahead and, invigorated by their opener, the Tykes pushed on to effectively seal the game with Mads Andersen’s strike on 77 minutes, and then round it off with a Nicky Cadden free-kick in stoppage time.

“We’re disappointed, obviously,” said Argyle boss Steven Schumac her, after the game. “We came here and felt that we could have got a result.

“Looking at the first-half performance, I felt that the game plan was what we'd spoken about. We felt that if we passed the ball well enough, to try to play through Barnsley’s press.

“That is also their game. They play with high energy, so if we could pass it through the press, we would be okay. I think we did that in the first half an hour maybe, and looked a threat, but we didn't manage to get ourselves ahead.

“We said at half-time that the game was there for us. If we could get one up, the first goal was going to be crucial so that if get one chance, then we need to take it. I'm not sure how much energy they had left, but we missed our big opportunity. Ryan missed a brilliant chance, and then they scored not long after.

“You could see the game change from that moment; they were a better team after that. They had the momentum, the crowd got behind them and then they deserve to win the game.

“I do think that the chance that Ryan had right after half time was critical. I think if he scores, I'm not sure if Barnsley had a comeback in them because I felt they looked a little bit tired in the first half, especially the levels that they have been playing at.

“We didn't show enough quality to punish them for it. I felt our creative players weren't good enough today. We kept giving the ball away. I lost count of the amount of times we tried to play throughballs that ran through to the goalie. It just wasn't our day as an attacking force.

“If that is going to be the case, then we might have to just grind it out and defend the box better. We're going to have to address that because we can't go away from home and keep conceding three, four, and five goals. You're not going to win any games if you do that.

“You can't expect anything else if you don't defend your box properly. I felt it was too easy from two throw-ins to get the ball into our box and they punished us twice.”

Two weeks ago, when Argyle lost at Peterborough United, Schumacher asked his team for a positive response and got one. In fact, he got two, as the Greens won back-to-back home games against Charlton Athletic and Derby County.

The defeat to Barnsley is only Argyle’s sixth defeat of the season. Analysing the games that have immediately followed the other five, Argyle’s record is four wins, one draw.

They return to action next Saturday, at home to Forest Green Rovers, looking for that type of reaction once again.

Argyle will go into that game, which heralds the start of the final ten fixtures, in second place in Sky Bet League One, two points ahead of Ipswich Town.

“Six points out of three games isn't the end of the world,” said Schumacher. “It's the points-per-game tally that you need if you want to get promoted. We won't overreact, but there's something that we might have to look at.

“A point in this game would've been a great result and would’ve topped off a brilliant week. We're all disappointed with the result today, but we have got to remember, we've just got six points at home as well.

“I want to thank the fans again today. The numbers that they turned up in was outstanding. They supported us right the way to the end again, so thanks for that.

“If someone would have said to us, and all of our fans at the start of the season, that we’d be second and two points clear of Ipswich with 10 games to go in the league, I'm sure we all would have taken it. I won't be too doom-and-gloom; it’s just a bad day, and we’ll try to win next week.”