Conor Hourihane ‘relentless’ in his mission to improve Barnsley’s defence

Barnsley head coach Conor Hourihane praised his side for coming from two goals down to win 3-2 against Burton – but admits they need to be stronger at the back.

David McGoldrick was the man of the moment after firing past Jordan Amissah in the third minute of stoppage time to snatch the Reds all three points.

But the game started poorly for both McGoldrick and Barnsley after referee David Rock adjudged that the 37-year-old had brought down Brewers midfielder JJ McKiernan in the box.

Jake Beesley made no mistake from the spot as he calmly placed the ball past a static Murphy Cooper.

Fabio Tavares doubled Burton’s lead in the 35th minute after he latched onto McKiernan’s through ball.

This was the first time there had been any sport at Oakwell since Barnsley boxer Callum Simpson was crowned the European super-middleweight champion on June 8.

He paraded around the ground with the belts at half-time – and the Reds certainly came out in the second half with some fighting spirit.

Caylan Vickers pulled one back after 55 minutes thanks to a looping effort which found the top corner.

Davis Keillor-Dunn levelled in the 63rd minute, firing home from inside the area after Luca Connell’s effort was parried straight to him by Burton goalkeeper Jordan Amissah.

And McGoldrick made up for his early error to send the Barnsley faithful delirious by turning in Adam Phillips’ cross at the back post in added time.

It is the second time in two games that the Reds have scored three goals in a game, but Hourihane says they are going to need to become better defensively.

He said: “I was disappointed, obviously, with the scoreline at half-time.

“We can’t score three goals every single game.

“There will be games where we need to be defensively solid and have good organisation without the ball.

“Phillo (Adam Phillips) looks like he’s got himself in a really good place over pre-season.

“Davo is Davo, Didzy is Didzy and then Caylan has got that little bit of magic. So we will score goals.

“I’ve done session after session on defensive structure – and we will get better.

“We’ll keep being relentless with it to make sure that we do it better.”

Burton head coach Gary Bowyer was not too harsh on his side despite blowing a 2-0 lead.

He said: “It was a game of two halves.

“It was a wonderful start.

“Everything that we spoke about at half-time, we then seemed to do the opposite.

“But they’re a young group and I’ve said to them that this is a fantastic game for them to learn and gain experience from.

“What they have to do is take it on board and get ready for the next game.”