‘Perfect week’ but new coach Valerien Ismael is not getting carried away at Barnsley

Saturday’s 1-0 home success over Watford does however take their tally to two in two, a start to life managing in England that the Frenchman admits could not have gone better.

Yet, although he described his first week as Reds coach as having been “perfect”, there is no danger of Ismael getting too carried away with back-to-back victories over the Hornets and QPR.

He has not lost sight of his initial goal, to lead Barnsley away from the relegation zone, and insists that more of the same is required if his team – now 15th in the table – are to keep their heads above water.

“It’s been the perfect week, the perfect game today, but I have to think now to the next game,” Ismael said.

“I already said from the first day that I came in, it’s not a question of winning one game, two games, you have to be focused on the next. We want to win the next three, four, five because our goal is to go quickly out of the red zone.

“That is why today is a step in the right direction but we have now two more big steps before the [international] break and we now focus on these two games.”

Saturday’s triumph over a Watford side brimming with Premier League pedigree was hard earned by the Reds.

With match-winner Alex Mowatt very much to the fore, they were the better team during the opening half and deserved to be in front at the interval.

The second half saw Ismael’s men forced to dig in and ride their luck at times, though the Barnsley chief said that he was proud of his players’ efforts in seeing the game out.

“I’m very proud of the guys. It was a tough game against a very strong team,” he added.

“The first half was exactly what we wanted, to press high, to win the ball in the opponent’s half and get quickly to the goal.

“The second was a big fight. We were defending the box very well. We were very close together.

“Sometimes we were lucky, Watford had big, big chances, but you sometimes need luck to win such a game. For the guys, it is a very good feeling today.”

The contest was just six minutes old when Hornets centre-half Ben Wilmot attempted to pass the ball out from the back and into midfield, only for Mowatt to intercept.

Having advanced to within 25 yards of goal, the Reds midfielder took aim with his left foot and unleashed a strike which fizzed into the away net via the top of Ben Foster’s right-hand upright.

The visitors wasted little time in trying to get back on terms, Ismaila Sarr showing his class with a clever run and cross from the right which Joao Pedro was unable to finish off as Jack Walton dived bravely at his feet.

The home custodian showed good awareness and flawless handling on three other occasions as Watford continued to find time and space to deliver balls into dangerous areas, though with Barnsley defending their box well, clear chances were at a premium. At the other end, Mowatt’s perfectly-weighted clip over the top of the Hornets’ back-line found Connor Chaplin, who cushioned the ball first-time into the path of Dominik Frieser, though the Austrian’s finish was wayward.

Callum Brittain got free down the Reds’ right and picked out Chaplin with an intelligent low centre, however the latter’s finish was tame and straight at Foster.

Having looked a real threat going forward before the break, Ismael’s charges never really got out of second gear as an attacking force after half-time.

It was Watford who made most of the running and they could have been back on terms after 57 minutes. And it came as little surprise that Sarr, Barnsley’s tormentor in chief during the first period, was the man to again open the hosts up down the right, using pace and trickery to reach the byline before cutting back for Tom Cleverley to blast a glorious opportunity high and wide of the far post.

The Reds’ one decent chance of the second 45 then arrived as the ball dropped for substitute George Miller inside the box, but with just Foster to beat, he pulled an unconvincing effort across the face of goal and wide of the mark.

At the other end, Wilmot seemed certain to equalise with a near-post header from a left-wing corner, only to head the ball into the turf and over the top when it looked easier to score.

Then, with 75 minutes on the clock, Watford’s last real opportunity to draw level came and went. The visitors counter-attacked following a Barnsley corner and only a crucial intervention from Clarke Oduor prevented Sarr’s attempted pass from reaching Pedro, who would have been left with a clear run on Walton’s goal.

Barnsley: Walton; Sollbauer, Helik, Andersen; Brittain (Oduor 46), James (Kane 73), Mowatt, Styles; Chaplin, Schmidt (Miller 58), Frieser. Unused substitutes: Collins,Thomas, Simoes, Halme.

Watford: Foster; Femenia, Cathcart, Troost-Ekong (Gray 76), Wilmot, Sema; Cleverley (Hughes 82), Capoue, Chalobah (Garner) 66; Pedro, Sarr. Unused substitutes: Bachmann, Ngakia, Quina, Kabasele.

Referee: M Donohue (Greater Manchester).

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