Barnsley boss Michael Duff gives his verdict on 3-1 win against Charlton Athletic

Michael Duff admitted his Barnsley side were not at their best in yesterday’s 3-1 win over Charlton Athletic at Oakwell.

Josh Benson’s long-range strike but the Tykes ahead early on with poor defending aiding James Norwood and Devante Cole in scoring.

Jack Payne reduced the deficit with five minutes remaining.

“It’s another game unbeaten and we showed a lot of resilience and a clinical edge,” Duff told BBC Sheffield. “Charlton are a good footballing team.

“They played a lot around us, we couldn’t quite get the press right – so we tweaked it. I’ve talked about it before, you can’t be brilliant every week but you need to find a way to win – that’s the most important thing.

“For all their play I can’t remember Jack [Walton] making too many saves and that could be through their lack of finishing but [his players] they took information, we had to change shape because it wasn’t quite working in terms of what we set out to do.

“At 3-0 up it would’ve been nice [to keep a clean sheet] because the whole back five, all that played and came on, we ask them when the ball goes back to crunch the pitch and get out. But then they have to get back in. They kept doing that and that’s why we caught them offside. That’s brave when the ref puts seven or eight minutes [added on at the end] and the ball keeps coming in the box. Those little details are what won us the game.

“Josh has got that in him, to score goals from long range.

“At 1-0 we’re still not quite sure of ourselves – they’ve got the ball and we’re not quite sure. Do we go for another one or do we sit in? The distance between back to front got a bit too big. Second half we tweaked a few things.

“The second goal came from a counter press, us pressing at the right moments. It was brilliant from Luke Thomas and then Devante – Nors’ finish is brilliant.

“Devante getting his goal, it didn’t feel like it when seven minutes go up on the board, but it killed the game.

“We set a target after 10 games and we hit that target. We won both halves of football today and we’re just trying to win that next half.

“We weren’t brilliant today but found a way to win. Don’t think because we won 3-1 against a good team that we’ve arrived – absolutely no chance. There’s no days off just because we have won a game – hard work pays you back.”

PICTURE: KYLE ANDREWS