Parkinson: It’s all to play for

Posted Sunday, April 15, 2018 by PA

Bolton boss Phil Parkinson insisted his side will fight to the end after seeing their hopes of a much-needed win denied by a stoppage-time equaliser in a 2-2 draw with Barnsley at Oakwell.

For large parts of the second half it looked as though Gary Gardner’s strike after 22 minutes would be enough for Barnsley to take all three points.

But as the game entered the final 10 minutes there was plenty of drama with Adam Le Fondre’s penalty (82) setting up a grandstand finish.

Craig Noone scored with five minutes remaining but Oliver McBurnie levelled in the third minute of stoppage time to leave Barnsley, in 22nd place, two points behind Bolton but with a game in hand.

Parkinson said: “I’m delighted with the way we responded after going a goal down in a high-pressure game. The response was magnificent second half, but we’re very disappointed to concede late in the game.

“What pleased me is the courage we showed when the pressure was on. The bravery to play when the pressure is on is important.

“We put some fresh legs in there second half and I thought they responded well.

“We got a penalty in the end. We got the second goal and we had other chances. All in all we’ve got to make sure this was an important point in our quest for survival.

“It’s all to play for and it’s difficult to tell what we’ll need. We’ve some massive games left.

“We haven’t spent one single penny and it’s tough. We’ve got real resilience in this group and we’ll keep fighting to the end.”

Barnsley manager Jose Morais was left to rue two penalty decisions which went against his side.

He said: “I have very mixed feelings. We are delaying big decisions in our favour. The delay is that this game we could have won, and for some reason we didn’t.

“We can find some reasons and we can blame someone. The referee saw a penalty that was a key moment in terms of the season.

“In English football so many times we see situations like this which is not a penalty.

“Minutes before the situation, the referee decided to not give a penalty for us. I thought it was a penalty on Kieffer Moore. Unfortunately, the referee didn’t see. It cost us points that could put our team in a totally different position.

“We had possibilities and we could have avoided situations to get the three points. We scored and we had opportunities to score and this is the way I want the team to keep going over 90 minutes.”