Daniel Stendel bemoans first-half display as Barnsley lose to Luton

Barnsley boss Daniel Stendel said his side’s first-half display at Luton was unacceptable as they stretched their winless run to nine games with a 2-1 defeat at Kenilworth Road.

The Tykes fell behind after just two minutes when former defender Mads Andersen headed in, before Nahki Wells doubled the lead just before half-time.

Although Makenzie Kirk halved the deficit in the 58th minute, Barnsley could not find a leveller and remain in the relegation zone.

Stendel said: “We’re not only disappointed with the first half, we cannot accept the performance in the first half.

“We want to do so much the opposite and after one minute, the first set-piece, we concede again a goal.

“It’s not the reason why Luton are so good, it was the desire to defend the headers in the situation and the second goal was the same.

“We were frustrated at half-time and I was a little louder, but the second half we had a reaction.

“In the end you can see it this league, the last two games we talked about the first half, today I thought the second half.

“When you want to get something in this league you have to play two halves with this performance.”

With Luton looking to bounce back from a 2-1 loss at MK Dons, they got off to the perfect start when Jamie Donley’s free-kick was met by Andersen to find the net.

Wells hit a post but the Tykes had chances, Tobi Adeyemo missing a great opportunity and Vimal Yoganathan heading over.

Wells doubled the lead from close range with his seventh goal of the season while, after the break, Tudor Mendel was denied a third by keeper Cieran Slicker.

Yoganathan fluffed his lines, but Luton also should have scored, Jordan Clark heading over and Kal Naismith narrowly wide.

Hatters boss Jack Wilshere added: “The message after to the players was, ‘that’s done, well done, courage, character, passion, everything that the game needed, we delivered’.

“Credit to the players as it wasn’t easy. We knew what we were coming into, we knew there was disappointment around, naturally, when we lose a game like that where we should win, but the players dealt with that well.

“We started fast, on the front foot, settled us down, but we kept that same intensity up, and probably when we look at it back, little bit of a similar feeling with the chances we create and we don’t take the game away from them.

“That that being said I felt like we dealt with that period of the game where it could probably get more and more dangerous. Whether it be playing a little bit more direct or slowing the game down at times,so credit to the players, they deserved that.”