An improved second half performance from the Super Reds wasn’t enough to prevent yet another defeat as Barnsley slumped to third bottom in League One.

Former red Mads Andersen opened the scoring after one minute; it was inevitable a former red would score. He then produced the defensive masterclass that we have been missing since his departure.

Wells made it 2 – 0 to home the side before the break with both goals yet again coming from set pieces.

Luton completely dominated the first half and there were fears that this would end up being a cricket score.

Barnsley did react though with Stendel ringing the changes at half time and changing to a 4-4-2 system.

Kirk came on up front and thundered in a goal to give us hope that we could actually get something from the game.

I have been critical of Kirk in his previous performances, but he played well in general as well as scoring and it must now surely be his turn to start against Reading in the striker merry-go-round.

Positives can certainly be taken from the second half performance. The intensity was much better, and we played some nice stuff at times. I also believe we should have had a penalty when Richards was fouled in the box only for the ref to book him for diving. But in truth Luton were much better over the course of the 90 minutes so we would have robbed a point had the penalty been awarded and converted.

Kelly was exceptional in the second half; he was absolutely everywhere and drove the team forward. He created the goal, however fortuitously but he deserved his luck with the commitment and desire he had to try and create for the team.

The main positive I will take from the game is that Slicker looks to be an upgrade on Ravenhill. He made some good saves at times to keep us in it. He is a puncher not a catcher though and some of his punches were terrible so that is an area of concern.

Defensively, our inability to defend set pieces is extremely worrying and Stendel must also work out his best back four and he certainly hasn’t yet.

Noslin and O’Riordan were hooked at half time and rightly so. There is certainly a player in Noslin but whether that is at right back remains to be seen. O’Riordan came with a big reputation but has so far been disappointing in the main. If he was as good as he was made out to be then he would have been in the Blackburn team and not available for loan with a view to a permanent move.

The balance with Larkeche at left back looked better as it would with having a left footer at left back. Kay has to play somewhere in that backline as his performances have been head and shoulders above anyone else, just not at left back where he had a rare poor game in the first half last night.

Gale is a bit of a mystery to me. He looked the best centre half by a country mile at the beginning of the season when playing as a right sided centre back. Since then, he has been moved to left sided centre back and right back where he struggled to now being an unused sub. Surely, he must come back in as a right sided centre back at Reading.

Away to Reading will be another tricky fixture but we really need to stop the rot before the players confidence truly hits rock bottom.

COYR