Barnsley manager Simon Davey admitted his side were fortunate to take a 2-0 win from their clash with Scunthorpe.
Odejayi caps good day for Tykes at Oakwell
Barnsley manager Simon Davey admitted his side were fortunate to take a 2-0 win from their Championship clash with Scunthorpe.
The Tykes took the lead moments before half time with a bizarre own goal from Marcus Williams.
Kayode Odejayi then settled the contest with a second after the interval as Barnsley kept their first clean sheet of the season.
"The main things are three points and a clean sheet, so we've achieved our
aims today," said Davey.
"We were lucky to be in at half-time 1-0 up but you make your own luck."
Scrappy
Few clear-cut chances were created in a poor first-half but Scunthorpe conceded when Andy Crosby's clearance ricocheted off Williams, with Tykes debutant Jamal Campbell-Ryce in close attendance, for the ball to balloon over Joe Murphy.
Davey added: "It was scrappy and we didn't get going but we got a bit of luck.
"I thought it was a better second half. I thought we were in control of the game - we could've had a few more - Stan (Istvan Ferenczi) hit the cross bar from a free kick, but we finished it off with a great goal from Kayode (Odejayi)."
Barnsley's uncompromising approach was epitomised by muscular frontman Odejayi, who struck after 65 minutes when he robbed Andy Crosby on the half-way line.
The £200,000 summer signing from Cheltenham rampaged forward, holding off the challenges of Kelly Youga and Andy Butler to poke the ball beyond Joe Murphy from just inside the box for his first goal for the club.
"He deserved that," said Davey of Odejayi. "The amount of work the boy puts
in - today he has proven that he can be a striker in this division."
Davey was not only pleased with his frontline, but he also believes he has
rectified his leaking defence.
"We've played five games in the league and that was our first clean sheet,"
he said. "The reason we were sitting fourth from bottom is because of our goals against column.
"We've worked very hard ensuring we work as units and defend as a team and it didn't look like our goal was going to be threatened - I don't think Heinz
(Muller) had a save to make."
Creativity lacking
Scunthorpe boss Nigel Adkins was disappointed following the defeat.
The Iron fell from fourth at the start of the day to 10th in the table following their second Coca-Cola Championship loss of the season, which Adkins attributed to a lack of creativity.
"I thought the first half was an even encounter and the complexion of the game
changed when they got the goal before half-time," said Adkins. "We're bitterly
disappointed.
"We never looked like we were going to create. We never got the ball out to
Kevan Hurst. We got about three crosses in from the left-hand side throughout
the whole game which is uncharacteristic of ourselves. But credit to Barnsley
because they've stopped the supply.
"We never created as much as we normally do.
"It's the first time we've not scored a goal in nine or 10 months, so from our
point of view we're bitterly disappointed."