Derby head coach Paul Warne reckoned his team cost him “three weeks off his life” after it took a stoppage-time winner to beat Burton.

Warne saw his players throw away a two-goal lead, only for skipper Conor Hourihane to score deep into added time.

Derby looked to be cruising to victory when Tom Barkhuizen scored at the back post in the 29th minute and James Collins headed a second four minutes after the break.

But Burton hit back in the 54th minute through Steve Seddon, who drove a low 20-yard shot past Josh Vickers.

The visitors were level 11 minutes later when Manchester United’s on-loan striker Joe Hugill broke away to score on his Burton debut.

But Albion’s brave resistance was broken in the third minute of stoppage time as Hourihane found the bottom corner from the edge of the area.

Warne said:” I thought we were good for 50 minutes and then we had a wobble. We were on a roller-coaster a little bit and that’s what disappointed me a bit about the performance.

“I thought we lost a bit of our character, we’d gone from complete control, although fair play to Burton, they made it really difficult for us.

“So for the captain to score late on was great and if nothing else it was entertaining for the neutrals, but I’ve lost at least three weeks off my life with that!

“Hopefully next time if we go 2-0 up we’ll have a little bit more control and keep trying to do the right things because tonight I felt we got away with it.

“We need to be better, if you want to go up and you want to win you have to be good in all the moments in most of the games.”

Burton manager Martin Paterson said: “The boys are disappointed, so am I. I’ve said many times to them in my first couple of days it’s a results-based business, we are here to win games and get points.

“So when we don’t we have to be disappointed. I’ve told them results are on me, that’s my job, their job is performance, so when you lose like that emotional control is key for me.

“You feel terrible, but the positives you take from it are it’s Derby, it’s a packed house and they are absolutely delighted. You saw how they celebrated a last-minute goal and my group have pushed them to the point where it’s euphoria.

“No disrespect to a really good football club, the manager’s good, the players are good, but there’s a little bit in me that thinks second half probably wasn’t a fair result.”

Conor Hourihane’s stoppage-time strike earned Derby a dramatic 3-2 victory over Burton at Pride Park.

Derby had thrown away a two-goal lead, with on-loan Manchester United striker Joe Hugill scoring the equaliser on his Burton debut, but were rescued by Hourihane’s late goal.

Derby dominated possession and were twice denied by Burton goalkeeper Max Crocombe in the 22nd minute.

He saved from Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and, after Tom Barkhuizen missed the rebound, made another good stop to deny Callum Elder.

But he could do nothing in the 29th minute when Mendez-Laing ran clear on the right and picked out Barkhuizen, who turned the ball in from six yards.

James Collins headed in a second in the 49th minute, but Steve Seddon’s 20-yard drive five minutes later reduced the arrears and Derby were stunned in the 65th minute when Hugill broke away to fire low past Josh Vickers.

But in the third minute of added time Derby’s pressure told when Hourihane found the bottom corner from just outside the box.

Reading’s plight is an example of why a stringent owners’ and directors’ test is imperative under a new football regulation bill, according to Fair Game chief executive Niall Couper.

Saturday’s Sky Bet League One match against Port Vale was abandoned after approximately 1,000 home supporters invaded the pitch in what one fan group have promised is the start of protests against owner Dai Yongge.

The club have been hit with a series of points deductions and financial penalties under the Chinese businessman’s stewardship and following Championship relegation after being docked six points they are 21st in League One having been stripped of four this season.

“Football belongs to the fans, but it shouldn’t be down to them to take action,” said Couper, whose organisation work to find long-term solutions to issues like protecting the heritage of clubs.

“Reading FC fans have, for years, paid the price of mismanagement of the club. The mismanagement has now put the club’s future at severe risk.

“The independent regulator must have strong powers for intervention before any club reaches this stage, and the forthcoming bill must also include a fit for purpose and stringent owners’ and directors’ tests.”

Reading’s Sky Bet League One match with Port Vale was abandoned after home fans invaded the pitch to protest against owner Dai Yongge.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at some of the key questions following the events of Saturday afternoon.

What happened?

With 16 minutes on the clock, approximately 1,000 Reading supporters entered the field at the Select Car Leasing Stadium. The match was halted, with around 40 people still refusing to leave the pitch some 68 minutes later. Fans stood in the centre circle surrounded by stewards before the announcement to call the game off was made at 4.25pm. Supporters chanted anti-Yongge slogans and unveiled a banner in the centre circle which read ‘Football has an ownership problem’.

Why did it happen?

Many Reading fans want Yongge to sell up. There has been an increasing amount of of fear and concern among supporters about the club’s direction under his stewardship. Sell Before We Dai, a fan group calling for a change of ownership, released a statement on Saturday evening entitled: ‘Desperate situation, desperate fans, desperate measures’. In the 242-word statement, members said they were “scared for the future” of the club and that “the threat could not be more real”.

What was the background to the protest?

Reading have had three points deductions – totalling 16 points – for various financial breaches in the past three years. Last season, a six-point deduction caused the Royals to be relegated from the Championship. This season, they have lost four points, punishment which has left them in the relegation zone. They have also been placed under transfer embargoes, while manager Ruben Selles has reportedly been unaware of transfer discussions for some of his players. Other, less disruptive, fan protests have previously been staged.

Who is Dai Yongge?

The Chinese businessman and his sister Dai Xiu Li became the majority shareholders of Reading in May 2017. The takeover was announced shortly after the Royals booked their place in the Championship play-off final, which they lost on penalties to Huddersfield. The 55-year-old Yongge was previously involved with Chinese club Beijing Renhe and Belgian side KSV Roeselare, both of which were dissolved. In 2016, he launched a failed bid to buy Hull. The English Football League was recently unsuccessful in a proposal to have Yongge disqualified from all football activity for 12 months following a financial misconduct charge.

What happens next?

Sell Before We Dai warned Saturday’s events were the start of an “elevated protest action”. The group plan to pressure the EFL in a bid to resolve the situation and may do so in collaboration with fans of other clubs which have experienced ownership issues. Further spontaneous match-day protests from fans are also a possibility. The EFL plans to “discuss the implications” of Saturday’s events with both clubs, with Reading likely to be sanctioned. Yongge placed the club up for sale in October and many Royals fans will hope a takeover is imminent.

Concerned Reading fans plan to focus future protests towards the English Football League amid genuine fears the club could go out of business under owner Dai Yongge.

Saturday’s Sky Bet League One match between the Royals and Port Vale was abandoned after approximately 1,000 home supporters invaded the pitch at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

Sell Before We Dai, a fan-led group urging Chinese businessman Yongge – Reading’s majority shareholder since May 2017 – to sell up, said the incident was “just the start”.

Group member Eleanor Flood, a season-ticket holder who has been watching Reading since 1994, called for support from the EFL to help stave off the possibility of liquidation.

“I think the people who can put the pressure on is the EFL, so I think we will turn our attentions to something there,” she told the PA news agency.

“They’ve got their head office in Preston and the London office, so I think we’ll look to do something that focuses more on them and their ability to really intervene in this.

“We don’t want them to let us go under when they could actually step up and help.

“I think that’s where the focus will be – PR stunts to keep it in everybody’s mind, but ultimately the next stage will be to put pressure on people who can actually help us.

“We were in the Premier League (most recently in the 2012-13 season) and now there’s a real possibility that we might not exist.

“For one of the oldest clubs in the football league, that’s just unimaginable, that we might go into liquidation.”

As a membership organisation and competition organiser, the EFL’s role is to ensure compliance and work within the bounds of regulations set by member clubs.

The League, which supports the new independent regulator, was recently unsuccessful in a proposal to have Yongge disqualified from all football activity for 12 months in relation to a financial misconduct charge.

Reading, formed in 1871, have been hit with a series of points deductions and financial penalties under his stewardship.

The Berkshire club were relegated from the Championship last term due to a six-point penalty and sit in the League One relegation zone after being stripped of four points this campaign.

Saturday’s pitch invasion occurred in the 16th minute, representing the total number of points deducted during Yongge’s reign.

Fans chanted anti-Yongge slogans and unveiled a banner in the centre circle which read ‘Football has an ownership problem’.

The 55-year-old Yongge, whose takeover came just before the Royals’ penalty shoot-out defeat to Huddersfield in the 2017 Championship play-off final, was previously involved with Chinese club Beijing Renhe and Belgian side KSV Roeselare, both of which were dissolved.

Flood said efforts to target the EFL could be done in collaboration with fans of other clubs troubled by recent ownership issues, such as next weekend’s opponents Wigan.

“It’s important to reference that he’s liquidated two other clubs as well, one in China and one in Belgium,” Flood said of Yongge.

“They don’t exist anymore – and we don’t want to be the third.

“You want there to be that club that’s passed from generation to generation and at this point we’re really scared that next season it might not exist.”

The EFL is set to discuss the implications of the abandoned match with Reading and Port Vale.

Stevenage boss Steve Evans hailed his side’s commanding performance as they returned to winning ways to keep up the pace with the League One play-off pack after recording a 1-0 victory at Shrewsbury.

The first half was not one for the football purest, but the game opened up after the 70th minute with both sides looking for that decisive goal.

Shrewsbury made a great move minutes later with Tom Bayliss playing Max Mata through and the striker spun and got a shot off from inside the area, but goalkeeper Taye Ashby-Hammond was equal to the opportunity.

Stevenage found that decisive goal after 84 minutes, with Jamie Reid fantastically converting from close range.

Evans said: “I like when you come here. I spoke to (Wrexham manager) Phil Parkinson in the week and he said: ‘Fine margins.’ I thought we started the game really well and commanded it for most of it.

“We said to the boys, ‘have some courage and play’ and we didn’t do that last week and ‘have some individual battles all over the pitch in terms of sporting point of view and win them’.

“It was a brilliant away support and they will go home really happy seeing the Stevenage they know is back (in relation to their FA Cup exit to Maidstone).”

On the goal, Evans added: “First and foremost, it is three or four passes before and it’s a pass of the match from Jake Forster-Caskey and that is a Championship-class pass – and that is what Jake has got.

“Jamie Reid’s touch and finish is fantastic and he has done that three or four times this season and goes and scores, but I think we deserved it.”

The late win for Boro means they remain level on points – in seventh – with sixth-placed Barnsley, while the home side dropped down two places to 17th as a result.

Shrewsbury boss Matt Taylor said: “I have made three changes to change a front three and I felt that had a slight impact.

“When we got into that final third, our decision-making wasn’t as good as it had been.

“Ultimately, what should be a 0-0 draw through one laps of concentration, everybody is now extremely deflated when you lose a game of football at home.

“What we have done in the last couple of games is really get after the opposition – and we tried to do that today – but it is decision-making in the final third which has cost us.

“You have got to try and change the flow of the game and that is what we wanted to do and when you have players of quality you can use, then you have to utilise them.

“The defenders have defended for their lives apart from one moment today and that shouldn’t occur and I shouldn’t be standing here now talking about a defeat.”

Matt Bloomfield bemoaned conceding another late goal as Wycombe had to settle for a point in a 1-1 draw at home to Lincoln.

Dale Taylor put the hosts ahead in the 29th minute but Ethan Erhahon rifled home an equaliser in the eighth minute of stoppage time to rescue a point.

Bloomfield’s side conceded a 90th-minute equaliser against Port Vale just before Christmas and the 39-year-old vowed to look into the issue.

“The amount of times that we’ve been in a really good position to take points and how that affects where we are in the league table is really frustrating,” he said.

“Yet again, another late goal. We’ve had it a number of times this year and we have to go into depth about why that is happening and try and stop it.

“It’s another game like Port Vale here a couple of weeks ago that we should be walking away with a home win.

“But I guess if you are only at 1-0 and you don’t put your chances away, you run the risk of a late goal going in and we’re kind of just getting punished for both at the minute.”

Taylor opened the scoring after Sam Vokes headed Jack Grimmer’s cross into his path. The Northern Irish striker then headed home as Adam Jackson scrambled to keep the ball out to no avail.

Looking to add to his tally, Taylor’s low strike went just wide before Lincoln almost equalised when Dylan Duffy hit a post.

Joe Taylor, on his debut for Lincoln, saw a goal disallowed for offside in the second half before substitutes Reeco Hackett and Jack Moylan forced Max Stryjek into good saves.

The Wycombe goalkeeper could do nothing about Erhahon’s lofted finish as Lincoln ended a run of four straight defeats.

Imps manager Michael Skubala said: “I thought second half we did really well. We came out and pushed the game.

“We looked like the aggressor and we weren’t as passive. I said to the lads at half-time we need to have courage, courage to get the ball moved up the pitch but courage to be higher as well in our positioning.

“I thought in the second half we did enough to probably nick it to be honest.

“It’s important to have squad depth, it’s important to have different options off the bench and it’s important to have the quality in the squad size, and I thought you saw the impact of the substitutions today.

“I thought Teddy (Bishop), when he came in, did really well and when Reeco (Hackett) came on we saw a bit of the class that we know Reeco can bring.”

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho branded his side “awful” after they were thrashed 3-0 at home by Leyton Orient.

The shell-shocked south coast outfit conceded all three goals before half-time as their poor recent run extended to one win in six games.

Mousinho did not hold back in his post-match assessment and said: “I thought we were awful, to be honest. In the game as a whole we weren’t good enough.

“We started OK but it is not good enough to just be OK for 20 to 25 minutes.

“We went under after we conceded the first goal and that summed up our afternoon.

“We did not create enough in the final third and did not defend our box well enough. We were just a yard off it in everything we did.

“Our job is to dust ourselves down and go again and try to put our finger on what went wrong.

“The message to the players is we are at a stage of the season now where it goes one of two ways.

“We are somehow still top of the league and that gives us something to hold on to. We have 19 games to put that to bed.”

Orient could have been ahead inside the first 10 seconds, but Dan Agyei’s shot was deflected for a corner.

They did take the lead after 30 minutes when a one-two between Shaq Forde and Max Sanders saw Forde score easily.

It was 2-0 five minutes later when Jordan Brown stabbed home after a goalmouth scramble.

Pompey had a chance to get back in the game after 40 minutes with a penalty after a foul on Jack Sparkes, but Colby Bishop’s tame effort was easily saved.

Things got worse for Pompey in the last minute of first-half added time when Agyei headed home from a corner.

Orient maintained their dominance in the second half, stifling Pompey’s efforts to get back into the game and came away worthy winners.

Visiting manager Richie Wellens said: “I am really proud of all my players.

“The last five or six games has been an accumulation of what we have been doing all season, but we have not been able to play the way we wanted to play and have not been able to get certain players on the pitch.

“It was probably a good time to play Portsmouth and we started the game well and did not give them any breathing space.

“We pressed them and they could not really play through us. They had a couple of opportunities in the first half but we had chances to score more goals.

“From one to 11 today and the subs that came on everyone was excellent and the work-rate was brilliant as well.”

Darren Ferguson praised the impact of two-goal Ephron Mason-Clark as Peterborough moved second in League One with a 2-1 win at Charlton.

Mason-Clark put Ferguson’s side ahead in the first half and then secured the points with a 75th-minute second.

The win extends Peterborough’s unbeaten league run to 10 games, and Ferguson was in no doubt Mason-Clark deserved his double.

The Posh manager said: “He’s good player. He’s so strong, he gets kicked around all over the place but he gets up and gets on with it.

“He’s scored two today and that’s 13 for the season. He’s a very, very good player.”

Ferguson was frustrated his side failed to make more of their first-half dominance, but having restored their lead after Alfie May’s 49th-minute equaliser, the manager was satisfied with the way Peterborough maintained their improved run of form on the road.

He said: “Coming into the Christmas period we spoke about improving our away form and we have certainly done that. I think that’s four away wins on the bounce which is very impressive.

“We deserved to win the game overall, we just didn’t finish it off but we dug it out in the end.

“We were completely dominant in the first half, there was no real threat against us. We got the goal but just couldn’t get the second goal.

“Then at the start of the second half we had four unbelievable chances inside 10 seconds and we didn’t manage to take one.

“Any team that comes here and wins, its a good win. It’s a very important win.”

Defeat means Charlton are now without a victory in eight league games.

A poor first-half display was met with boos at half-time, and manager Michael Appleton admitted he shared the fans’ disappointment before highlighting an improved second-half display.

He said: “Obviously the first half was frustrating. We were tentative and showed them a bit too much respect.

“In the second half I thought we were outstanding at times. We came up a top side and we stood toe to toe with them at times and created plenty of opportunities.

“I wanted us to pass the ball quicker and make more runs without the ball. We got that in the second half. I really enjoyed watching us in that second half. It gave me lots of hope and encouragement.

“We have just got to focus on what we are doing. We’ve got 20 games, 60 points to play for. If we get the personnel in we want, I think we can get a lot of those points.”

Neil Harris described Lyle Taylor’s first Cambridge appearance as good a debut as he had seen after his side’s 2-1 win against Fleetwood.

Taylor enjoyed a memorable first outing after coming off the bench against Fleetwood, opening the scoring and then assisting Sullay Kaikai’s added-time winner.

The win lifts Harris’ side to seven points above the League One relegation zone, while Fleetwood remain bottom and eight points from safety.

“If you look at debuts, that was as good a debut as I’ve seen,” Harris said.

“Ultimately the game changed when Lyle came on, but then when Brandon Njoku came on as well it changed the impetus of the game.

“That’s the importance of the transfer window. Getting Lyle done before training and midday yesterday was a challenge.

“The temptation to start him was there, naturally. It had been an up and down week for him, he hadn’t had a lot of time on the grass.

“He knows playing for me he’ll get chances to score. He’s been desperate to come, I’ve been desperate to get him in. I’m delighted to have him because his qualities suit the way I want to play.

“What was lacked in the first half at times was that composure, and moment of quality as well.

“Sometimes, especially at this stage in the season, it’s just about three points. I just praise the players’ character and resilience.

“When we conceded and it went back to 1-1 there was no feeling sorry for yourself. The crowd didn’t melt, we didn’t melt as a group. We were on the front foot and probably should have scored one or two before we did.”

Charlie Adam knows his Fleetwood side must start winning games if they are to stand any chance of avoiding the drop to League Two.

“In large spells we did well for an away performance,” Adam said.

“Again, big moments change games. In the 92nd minute we lose a goal and its disappointment, but again there are good signs at times of what we’ve been working on all week.

“We bounced back from that goal that we conceded but again late goals we’ve conceded have cost us this year and we’ll need to address that in the week.

“You’re hoping that your team can go on and try and win the game. If not we want to draw the game, take a point and we go to next week. We’re disappointed to lose the game and we’ll focus on what we can do better as a group, we’ll readdress it and go against Portsmouth next week.

“I think the confidence is in the team, there’s a good spirit in there. I’ve had two away games, when the lads travelled they’re connected, they’re together. That’s important and that’s what will get us results.”

Neil Critchley praised the patience of his Blackpool side as their impressive home form continued with a 2-0 win over Exeter.

Long-range Albie Morgan strikes either side of half time earned the Tangerines their 10th home league win of the season – the most of any side in Sky Bet League One.

Critchley’s side remain within four points of the play-offs and the 45-year-old hailed the mentality of his players in the face of increased expectations.

“We can’t expect to just turn up and win,” he said. “That applies to all of us.

“Due to our home record, there’s an expectation that we turn up and win, but it’s not like that. It’s a total shift in mentality from my previous time here and last season as well.

“It takes a different mindset to understand, it’s not easy to beat opponents with everyone behind the ball, it takes time and patience.

“You have to work for those opportunities. In my opinion, we were the deserved winners.

“They obviously came with a plan to frustrate us and wait for us to make a mistake and counter, but we made very few errors.

“Albie (Morgan) showed what he’s capable of, and then the second goal was a great strike as well.

“We were a little bit wasteful and not clinical enough. It nearly became a game it should never have been, at 3-0 the game would’ve been completely dead and buried.”

Jordan Rhodes saw a 25th-minute penalty saved by Viljami Sinisalo, but it did not prove overly costly as Morgan slammed home from long range six minutes before the break.

The 23-year-old doubled his tally with an equally-stylish finish early in the second half to seal the outcome against an Exeter side who remain just three points above the relegation zone following a ninth successive away league match without a win.

“They [Blackpool] are the best team at home in the league for a reason, they have good players all over the park and they cause you a lot of problems,” said Grecians boss Gary Caldwell.

“We restricted them to few chances and they scored two good goals from outside the box.

“We caused ourselves too many problems, but we were better in the second half and even at 2-0, I thought there was something there for us.”

Ben Purrington made his debut for the visitors at Bloomfield Road and Caldwell hopes more reinforcements will arrive to boost his side’s survival bid.

“We are speaking to agents, clubs and players and come the end of the window I’m sure we’ll bring more players in,” he said.

“But they have to be the right players. I know it’s frustrating for the fans but we have to be patient.”

Reading manager Ruben Selles fears that the club may be forced to play home games behind closed doors “maybe for the rest of the season” after their League One match against Port Vale was abandoned.

Play was halted at 0-0 in the 17th minute after around 1,000 home fans invaded the pitch in the latest protest against Chinese owner Dai Yongge, who is trying to sell the club.

After repeated PA announcements for the fans to leave the pitch – including a threat of the game being called off – a hardcore group of about 40 stood in the centre circle and refused to move back to the stands.

Both clubs consulted with the EFL over the situation but at 4.25pm, the game was abandoned and will be restaged at a later midweek date.

“We know that there could be repercussions,” Selles said. “A points deduction is unlikely, but it can happen.

“It could be that we play with an empty stadium for one or two games or even the rest of the season.

“There could be a financial punishment, of course.

“It’s a big variety of things and it will be up to a panel of experts to decide.”

Selles added: “We knew that something was going on (the planned on-pitch protest) from reading the social media and all its comments.

“Basically, I had a decision to make. The decision was to come here to compete and don’t get distracted by those things.

“If it happened, we will just take it. Sometimes, with social media, things never happen. So if you lose focus and concentration, you can be late into the game.

“You can then lose the game because you were not ready in the key moments.

“Then it happened and we just took it as it comes. We went inside, people (the fans) made their point clear and the game got postponed.

“After the pitch invasion, I made sure that our players and their (Vale) players were all inside the players’ tunnel.

“Not that I was worried about the situation. I knew that our people (the fans) were not going to make any stupidity in that way.

“The invasion was not aggressive, it was passive. It was just to make the point.

“Listen, I’m sympathetic with the fact that we all want the best for Reading football club.

“I think our fans are proud with what the team is doing, the way in which we are playing and competing.

“But the fans are getting frustrated about the similar things that we are.

“I’m sympathetic but, really, what I want is just to play football matches and win football matches.”

Vale manager Andy Crosby was not available for comment on the abandonment afterwards.

But the club later posted on X, formerly Twitter: “Today’s Sky Bet League One match against Reading has been abandoned. We’d like to thank our supporters for making the trip to Berkshire and wish you a safe trip back.”

Oxford boss Des Buckingham has urged his players to find their consistency after a 3-1 win at Carlisle.

The promotion-chasing U’s remain in the hunt after Mark Harris’ double and Tyler Goodrham’s effort at Brunton Park.

Alfie McColmont’s goal was a mere consolation for the relegation-threatened Cumbrians, but Buckingham’s charges are three points off the top three after a fourth victory in six games.

“It’s a big win for us,” said the Oxford manager.

“We’re obviously still short of bodies ourselves, but we’re slowly starting to get right.

“It’s about trying to remain consistent and if we do that the performances will come.

“It’s important with 20 games to go to get as many points as possible.”

Harris’ brace, with goals either side of half-time, took his tally to four in four, and Buckingham is pleased as punch his striker is getting the rewards after an 11-game goal drought.

He said: “Mark’s getting some reward for the efforts he put in for the spell he had when he wasn’t scoring.

“We’ve spoken in the dressing room about standards so we don’t get too high or too low with the performance or the result.

“Mark Harris’ attitude to that spell where he wasn’t scoring, he was creating, he was hitting the bar and the post and the keepers were making good saves. If he could continue doing that he would be scoring and it’s great to see those efforts hitting the net rather than the woodwork or the keeper now.”

Struggling Carlisle have won just one of their last 12 league games and boss Paul Simpson believes the difference has been the quality in front of goal.

He said: “They are a very good side. They’re a club that is gearing up to try and be promoted.

“When we didn’t make those opportunities count in the first half they started to get control of the game.

“The first goal was a set-play and it was a really simple thing where we don’t pick up the biggest centre-half on the pitch, he’s 6ft 4in, and he gets a free header. You go a goal down and you’re up against it and we were rocked a bit.

“The second goal is an absolute sickener to give that away when the striker runs through two centre-backs. If we had VAR it would be given offside.

“But we don’t, it’s down to the human eye. Whether it’s right or wrong is debatable, we don’t really know. We were chasing it after that.

“That was the difference, the difference in quality in the final third separated us. We’ve got in there and not been able to test the keeper enough.

“Things go against you when you’re down but we stuck at it, kept trying to give it a go. There were incidents where we should have done better and worked the goalkeeper more.”

Barnsley head coach Neill Collins praised his side’s first-half performance after they beat Bristol Rovers 2-1 at Oakwell

Devante Cole and Corey O’Keefe scored either side of Chris Martin’s equaliser to wrap up the three points.

Collins said: “It was a tough game. It was a game that I knew was going to be very tough.

“The fine balance is always emphasising to the team how tough it’s going to be without getting them scared and making sure we know it’s about us.

“I just felt this was a big one because Bristol (Rovers) will still have an eye on the play-offs. They’re good enough to do that and they’ve been on a good run of form.

“The players trained fantastically. I thought in the first half they were really excellent in most parts of the game apart from the final pass or final cross.

“Once we did get that right, we scored and probably should’ve done it a little bit more often and taken advantage of the first-half performance.”

On his side’s reaction to losing their lead, Collins said: “There’s always an opponent to consider, they brought on two big target strikers. We don’t have that dominant presence, although the lads at the back stood up to it really well.

“We’re going to have a lot more games like that between now and the end of the season. The good thing for me is there’s a lot of room for us still to improve, but a lot to be pleased with.”

Bristol Rovers manager Matt Taylor pointed out the weaknesses that led to his side’s downfall.

He said: “We had a lot of chances; I didn’t think we were good enough first half.

“I think we lacked a little bit of our strength, intensity and brightness when the ball was in and around us.

“The second-half performance was much improved in terms of our understanding of what the game needed first and foremost.

“We haven’t kept a clean sheet since I’ve been here, that’s a pretty damning statement of myself and this group of players because we do create chances, we always look like we’ve got a threat about us.

“We’ve got to find a way of staying more controlled in games.”

On how his team conceded the first goal, Taylor said: “Every goal you concede you’ll go into real detail, but the really clear theme is that we’ve conceded too many goals that we feel are soft goals.

“At the moment, there’s a bit of softness and that’s not always a physical statement, it’s our mindset towards it, our understanding of what’s needed at certain times.

“It’s frustrating because throughout the course of the game we’ve created the cleaner chances, but it’s irrelevant.”

Managers Shaun Maloney and Jon Brady both declared themselves satisfied after Northampton and Wigan shared the points in a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Sixfields.

The Cobblers led through Sam Hoskins’ 16th-minute penalty, awarded for a foul by Latics goalkeeper Sam Tickle on Kieron Bowie, but the visitors struck back and netted a deserved equaliser through Josh Magennis after 64 minutes.

It was a match of few clear-cut chances, with Wigan dominating possession for the most part, and both bosses were pleased to come away with a point for their efforts.

“Wigan are a good side, they move the ball well and cause you all sorts of problems with their shape,” said Brady.

“They pull you apart constantly, and we knew that would happen.

“It was the hardest I have had to work all week to try and nullify all of that, and the boys worked extremely hard.

“Then you look at their resources and what they bring on, Charlie Wyke, Callum McManaman, the Smiths, and jeez.

“But what we have got is heart and huge desire, and we dig in.

“I think their position in the table is pretty false, and without the points deduction they’d be in and around us, so I feel overall, although it can be better, I am quite pleased with that today.”

Maloney felt the point was the least his team deserved.

The Latics enjoyed a 67 per cent share of possession as the away team, and Maloney said: “The performance was right up there with the levels we showed in the 1-1 draw at Barnsley on New Year’s Day, but in a different way.

“At Barnsley we played on the counter-attack, today I thought we were very good with the ball on a really difficult pitch, and it is even harder when you go 1-0 down.

“Mistakes like the one for their goal happen, you are going to get that with some of the younger boys, but I thought we played very, very well. I was really happy with everybody.

“We went in 1-0 down, but the performance in the first half was very, very good.

“We didn’t need to change anything, we just needed to be a bit more aggressive and the response in the second half was good.

“It is difficult sometimes when you stand here if you draw or you get beaten and the performance has been good, but today I have nothing but good things to say about my players.”