Jack Ross’s Sunderland were held to a goalless draw away at League One promotion rivals Barnsley at Oakwell on Tuesday night.
Barnsley head coach Daniel Stendel was left frustrated after his side were held to a goalless draw by League One promotion rivals Sunderland at Oakwell on Tuesday night, speaking to the Barnsley Chronicle.
Both teams created plenty of chances in South Yorkshire but failed to find the net in testing conditions, meaning Sunderland are still four points adrift of the Tykes in the table – albeit with a game in hand.
In truth, Barnsley were probably the more dangerous of the two and would have picked up a valuable win if it wasn’t for an inspired performance by the Black Cats’ Scotland international goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin.
Striker Mamadou Thiam also clattered a shot off the crossbar just before half-time.
Speaking after the game, Stendel claimed his side should have won against a Sunderland team he felt resorted to long balls.
“We were a little bit better than Sunderland but in the end it is a draw and we keep the gap,” said the former Hannover boss.
“Sunderland are good team and you can see we both have a chance to finish in the top two. I think the draw helps us more than it helps Sunderland. It is in our hands.
“With the difficult conditions, it was different second half. Sunderland had the wind and they played a lot of long balls. They had two good chances.”
Sunderland are still in an excellent position to earn automatic promotion back to the Championship and they are surely guaranteed a place in the play-offs at least after making fine progress under Jack Ross recently.
But the former St Mirren boss must be frustrated by yet another draw – Sunderland’s 16th of the league season.
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