Burton pleased by response

Mark Burton was pleased with Barnsley's performance in the second half and applauded their spirit after a 2-0 home win against Crewe.

Crewe failed to create any real chances of note, although striker Marcus Haber managed to get himself into a number of promising positions, and paid the price as Lewin Nyatanga provided the 66th-minute breakthrough by heading home an excellent free-kick from Josh Scowen. With Crewe looking unlikely to score, the game was put to bed in the 79th minute when their substitute goalkeeper Paul Rachubka failed to make a catch from a corner and instead diverted the ball into his own net to give Barnsley the two-goal cushion. Burton said: "I was looking for a reaction and I got it. We started a little edgy and our plan didn't work first half. "I thought our plan to expose their full-backs didn't work and we changed things round and once we got the goal I felt there was only one winner. "The reaction from the players all week showed me that we were going to get some kind of gritty, passionate performance and that's what I saw, especially in the second half. "We put them on the back foot and all credit to the lads. We restricted Crewe to counter-attacks and they are dangerous. "You've got Marcus Haber on the shoulder, you've got Jamie Ness who drops in those pockets and they are a decent counter-attacking side, but we pinned them in." Crewe manager Steve Davis was disappointed with the poor quality of football on display and lamented the goals that his side conceded. He said: "There were two poor sides playing out there, but unfortunately for us we were just a bit poorer than Barnsley on the day and that has cost us. "I definitely think we had the better chances in the first half, but after that we then started to give away too many stupid free-kicks in our half, which gave the ball back to Barnsley. "We knew that once they got the first goal of the game we were always going to be up against it. "It really gave Barnsley something to build on in the second half and they've then gone on and got another soft goal from a corner. "I have to say that there wasn't really any real quality in the game."