Post-Barnsley Press Conference

Marco Silva was disappointed with certain aspects of Fulham’s 1-1 draw with Barnsley.

The hosts took a 1-0 lead into the break when Carlton Morris was awarded a penalty after losing his footing in the area, but we took a point back to the capital thanks to Harry Wilson’s late stunner.

“Whenever we don’t win a football match, it’s frustrating for us,” Silva told the press. “More so when it happens like it did in this match.

“We created enough chances to win this game, definitely. It wasn’t a fantastic match to watch from both sides, difficult conditions to play good football on this pitch, it was too long and too dry. Moving the ball quickly on this pitch was impossible.

“It’s not an excuse for us because, I repeat, we created enough chances. In the first 10 minutes we created two or three moments where we should score, but at the end of the first half they score after a clear mistake from the referee.

“I’ve seen the moment 15 times, and I can’t see one moment where Tosin makes contact with the player inside the box. I don’t understand, even why he took so long to decide whether it’s a penalty or not.

“It’s difficult for us to understand. In the second half I saw our players fighting until the end. It was difficult to play at our best level but we equalised and had some more chances as well. It’s one more point for us.”

Fulham’s players were staggered at the decision to award the hosts a spot-kick, but Silva was pleased to see them channel that anger into a response.

On another day we would have taken all three points back to SW6, but Wilson saw his close range header drop agonisingly wide in stoppage time.

“We reacted well,” Silva said. “The desire and ambition was there, and they did their best. The good thing was that I saw our players fighting and believing in themselves. Even if we didn’t perform at our best level, they fought until the end.

“It’s a fantastic moment from Harry and he deserved more with the other chance that he had, because he deserved to score the winning goal.

“Everyone expected in that second moment that he would score. He did brilliantly with the first one. That’s football.

“The main thing for me is that he was there in the right moment to score and I’m sure in three days [against West Brom] he will have another chance to score.

“The most important thing for me is that it was a very good delivery from Fabio, and he was in the right spot to create the chance.”