Barnsley manager Gerhard Struber says that he still believes his side can turn things around despite their position at the bottom of the Championship table.

Struber, five matches into his tenure as boss after replacing Daniel Stendel at the club, watched his team let a lead slip to draw 1-1 at home to Reading on Wednesday night.

Four points from a possible 15 have left the Austrian with an even tougher task to recover Barnsley from their perilous position. They are seven points adrift of safety, having won only twice all season, with an immediate return to League One seemingly looming.

Squad capable of turning form around

However, he still believes that the squad at his disposal have the attributes to turn their form around.

“We need points and I understand the (concerns of) fans. It is not easy when you have a team that is fighting and working and at the end we have no (reward),” said Struber after the Reading tie.

“This is difficult but we have the power, we have the energy and we have the spirit in the team to change it. This is my responsibility.”

They are back at Oakwell, where Struber is yet to taste defeat in his two home fixtures, on Saturday against QPR and the manager is aware of the importance of the fixture.

“Every game is important and every game (we need) to show a good performance and, at the end, we need points,” he said. “This is clear. On Saturday we will give all that we have and I am hoping the performance is good.”

Set-piece improvement needed

Struber will look to build on the evident positives from a midweek clash in which Barnsley were much the better team for large spells against the Royals.

After a dominant first half yielded no breakthrough, Cauley Woodrow put them in front after the break only for Lucas Joao to punish the young team’s familiar vulnerability from set-pieces to snatch two valuable points from the Tykes.

Struber said: “I am very disappointed with the one point. I think the performance, especially the first half, was very good. We created a lot of chances and were a little unlucky. In the second half after (taking) the lead it became a ping-pong game.”

Reflecting on the equaliser from a corner, he added: “We work hard in training on these situations but we need a clear mentality and a clear focus: ‘What is my task in this situation? I cannot lose concentration for an opponent’s set play.’

“I am a little angry about this equaliser and also that we don’t have the focus in this situation.”

“When you work with young players, these mistakes are normal. When you develop young players, they learn from mistakes. This is my job (to make sure) they benefit for next time.”

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