Scottish Under 21 international Stevie Mallan has spoken of his disappointment at seeing Barnsley pick up only a point from the midweek clash with Norwich City.
Hosting Daniel Farke’s side at Oakwell for the game, Oliver McBurnie gave Barnsley the lead in the 45th minute, but a second half goal from Josh Murphy was enough to share the points on the day and with Barnsley arguably having the better chances in the match there was a sense of disappointment for the youngster as he spoke to the Official Site following the game.
‘I think the boys feel we could have got all three points. It was a good game but a bit of bad defending on our part has cost us there. The boys are hurting in the dressing room. They feel like it’s two points dropped rather than a point gained. We think we played really well for most of the game and created quite a few good chances that we should probably have scored, at least a couple, but, it is another point on the board so we’ll have to take the positives from the game and move onto Saturday now.’
With a good period of games coming thick and fast on our travels of late, Mallan was delighted to finally get back on home soil in the game on Tuesday evening.
‘Being back at home, in front of our own fans it’s good to have that after all these away trips. All the lads enjoy being here and playing in front of the fans. When you’re getting the backing of the supporters it does spur you on when you need it. We had a couple of hard games away from home but it was good tonight to be back in front of the Barnsley fans and I think they could see we were right at it. The boys gave it their all from the first whistle and it’s just a shame we never got the three points that we deserved really. But the fans saw the boys’ efforts and they should know we’ll be fighting tooth and nail to the last game to stay up.’
With game time not being quite what he’d have liked so far this season, Mallan knew it was the nature of the beast and he just had to keep his head down and work hard and then when a chance presented itself, give the manager a complication.
‘It’s been nice to be back involved, I’ve had to wait a few weeks like I did under the last manager. But I understand how football works. I cherish every minute I play out there on the park. I just need to keep working hard myself, keep doing what I do on the training ground, day in, day out and prove to the manager that I deserve to be in his starting XI, because that’s where I want to be.’
Adding.
‘I won’t stop trying. I will get there. But for now, all I can do is do my best in the time I get on the pitch, try and create something whether that be from open play or with my set-pieces. But it’s about Barnsley and the team and I know these boys are too good to be relegated. I see it every day in training, and we’ve a great bunch here. I know that we will be doing everything we can to make sure we’re still in the Championship for next season.’
