Barnsley boss Michael Duff's Bolton squad verdict…

Barnsley boss Michael Duff's Bolton squad verdict after Wanderers draw & 'breaking up' game response

Barnsley boss Michael Duff felt his side was the one that had the chance to win their game against Bolton Wanderers as he pointed to the lack of shots on target the hosts created despite their squad.

The Whites were back at home and seeking to return to winning ways against the Tykes, following back to back losses against Cheltenham Town and Forest Green Rovers. He made three changes to his team, including restoring Dapo Afolayan to the starting XI.

But despite opportunities for the likes of Afolayan, Dion Charles and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, Wanderers were unable to break the deadlock against a Barnsley side which rarely threatened. The Whites remain just outside the play-offs and level on points with the Tykes after the spoils were shared.

Despite their dominance, Bolton managed just one shot on target in the match. They also summoned the likes of Kieran Sadlier, Amadou Bakayoko, Kyle Dempsey, Aaron Morley and Elias Kachunga from the bench to influence the encounter.

Duff was happy with a point and clean sheet at the University of Bolton Stadium. But he felt James Norwood had the chance of the game towards the end and that his side did not break up the game, but instead referee David Rock gave fouls against his side which the Tykes boss disagreed with.

Duff said: “You look at the armoury that they brought off the bench and they’ve had one shot on target in the game and that was in the first few minutes and it was a pretty routine save for Brad so they protected him really well, but they’ve had to work ever so hard.

“In the first half, I know Ian is frustrated because he said we kept breaking it up, but we didn’t keep breaking it up, the referee kept giving fouls against us which I didn’t think were fouls.

“It’s a good point. It’s a difficult place to come, a clean sheet and a performance on the back of last weekend’s poor performance. We probably could have used the ball a little bit better, we almost went the opposite to last week where we passed it for the sake of passing it, and today I thought we probably turned it over just a few too many times. But it’s a difficult place to come so you take a point and clean sheet away from home all day.

“We had a couple of half chances at the end but there is a slight frustration but after last week, you take the positives out of that performance all the time.

“A draw is never the result you’re looking for, you’re always trying to win the game. We changed the two centre midfielders with 20 minutes to go so it’s not a case of settling for a point and I think in the 93rd minute, we’re the ones with an opportunity to go and win the game.

"Norwood has had a good opportunity for the header in the 90th minute so it wasn’t a case of ever shutting up shop, it was just being difficult to beat and being hard to play against and picking your moments. That’s the one thing we didn’t do particularly well, we could have picked our moments slightly better."

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