Conor Hourihane would have liked a ‘couple’ more goals in Barnsley win at Posh

Barnsley head coach Conor Hourihane always felt his side were comfortable in their victory at Peterborough even though they were unable to pull away from their opponents.

A deflected strike from Brighton loanee Caylan Vickers decided the 1-0 win at the Weston Homes Stadium, where the Tykes passed up several opportunities to make life easier for themselves.

This was, however, their third win in four Sky Bet League One games this season and although Peterborough gave a spirited performance, it was not enough to earn them their first point of the campaign.

Hourihane said: “If we’d scored a couple (more), it’s a much easier night, but I think all in all, bar one or two concentration moments where we actually gave them their chances, I felt pretty comfortable in our defending all night.

“They had one little half-chance there right at the end, but all in all it was pretty comfortable and the chances they had were through our own downfall.

“It was one of our first halves of football this season so far that we were probably not in a good place, we were just a little bit off from what we have been doing.

“But there was a period for about half an hour in the second half where we played some really good stuff, created many chances.

“If you don’t put them away, you’ve got to defend properly and luckily enough for us tonight the lads at the back were really good.”

After a sluggish start, Barnsley led in the 44th minute when Vickers’ shot deflected in off Peterborough defender David Okugbue, but the hosts almost levelled when Brandon Khela hit the bar.

Tykes captain Luca Connell had a free-kick tipped on to a post by Vicente Reyes before David McGoldrick struck the other upright with 15 minutes left.

Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson said: “I’ve seen enough tonight to tell me the results will turn soon.

“It’s just one of those games where they’ve got a lucky deflection and they’ve scored from it.

“I’m not making excuses, but a key moment in the game was a clear penalty kick.

“How he (the referee) can give a free-kick to Barnsley when (Kyrell) Lisbie has gone clean through and (Nathanael) Ogbeta has brought him down, only he can make that decision and come up with that.

“We started (the second half) strong, we hit the bar and one where Gustav (Lindgren) has a good chance right at the end, in the last second.

“I can’t be critical of the players. They had a go, they kept going, that’s what I expect, that’s what we need.

“Obviously, we changed the team a little bit – I thought George Nevett came in and was the best player on the pitch.”