Poya Asbaghi sends Barnsley warning to relegation rivals despite late Reading setback

Barnsley manager Poya Asbaghi has said all seven of their remaining league games this season are winnable in their quest to escape the drop, speaking confidently to the Yorkshire Post.

The Tykes suffered something of a setback against relegation rivals Reading yesterday afternoon, going ahead through Carlton Morris in the fifth minute as they looked solid for large stages of the game.

In fairness, the Royals’ lack of quality going forward played a big part in making the South Yorkshire outfit look better defensively than they probably were but the hosts were unable to capitalise on this at Oakwell, with Josh Laurent scoring an 82nd-minute equaliser to keep the gap between the two sides to five points.

Considering they still have seven matches remaining, this deficit isn’t insurmountable, especially for a team that have only lost one of their last five matches and have vastly improved their results since February.

Nonetheless, three of these games were draws and if they are to survive, turning close games into victories could be crucial with both Derby County and Peterborough United not out of the race to remain afloat in the division just yet.

Despite this competition and their late setback against Paul Ince’s men this weekend, Asbaghi is still feeling confident heading into a crucial set of upcoming fixtures.

He said: “We have seven games left. None are mission impossible to win.

“We still have the confidence in the team, even if this feels a little bit like a loss.”

The Verdict:

They certainly have the calibre of players at their disposal to be successful, with the likes of January arrivals Amine Bassi and Domingos Quina providing them with the boost needed to fight back following a poor first half of the campaign.

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