Darrell Clarke was delighted to see his Barnsley team claim a second successive victory on the road as they secured a hard-fought 2-1 win at Northampton.
Fresh from seeing the Tykes halt a run of six games without a win with a 1-0 success at Rotherham on Saturday, Barnsley did the business once again at Sixfields thanks to two top-quality strikes from leading scorer Davis Keillor-Dunn.
The striker scored in the 36th and 59th minutes to put Barnsley in control, but Sam Hoskins pulled one back for the Cobblers 12 minutes from time before the visitors were reduced to 10 men when Mael de Gevigney was shown a straight red for a foul on Tariq Fosu.
Kevin Nolan’s side pressed for an equaliser in 10 minutes of stoppage time but Barnsley held on, and Clarke said: “We looked in control of the game without getting loads going, but we never looked in danger of conceding.
“Then we gave a really silly goal away and Mael gets sent off, so that ending took a few years off my life that’s for sure!
“It’s testament to the boys, and we have talked about it a lot this season where we have had those moments where we have had to dig in, we have done that.
“We have had to put our bodies on the line in those last 15 minutes, so credit to the players for that.
“I didn’t think our performance with the ball was very good if I’m honest, but we are coming to a team that has won three out of four and they are an awkward team to play against.
“We get 2-0 up from two decent finishes from Davis and then we just need to see the game out more comfortably than we did.
“We’ve had two away games in a row and have got six points and I’m delighted with that.”
As for Nolan, he was left to rue his side’s defending for Keillor-Dunn’s two goals.
“I’m disappointed in the manner of the goals again, that has been the killer for us in the two games we have lost here,” he said.
“They were excellent finishes, but I think we have gifted them the goals.
“We gave him the time and space he had, and if you do that he is going to punish you.
“It is disappointing, and we are disappointed with the result because it’s another loss here at Sixfields and I want to stop that, but there are lots of positives to look at.
“The lads kept going to the end and it’s about moments.
“There are lots of things we can learn from this game, as well as lots of things we can be pleased with.”
