Hill: Conceding goals seems to be in Barnsley's DNA

Keith Hill has bemoaned the amount of goals conceded by Barnsley over the last five seasons and thinks leaky defending could 'in the DNA of this club.'

Hill has told the Chronicle he is considering bringing in a central defender on loan in an attempt to shore up a back four that has not kept a clean sheet in 13 games and conceded 30 goals in that time.

Hill insists this is a problem that preceded him – Barnsley have had goal averages lower than -10 for the last five seasons – but is one that he can fix.

“People constantly ask me if we are going to replace Ricardo Vaz Te,” said Hill“But since Ricardo left we have scored four goals in two games.

“That should have been enough to win those games but it wasn’t because of the goals we conceded. We have scored more than enough goals and have been more than competitive in that department. That tells me that where we need to stengthen is not in attack but in defence.

“There is nothing wrong with the structure of my side but we keep making individual errors. I have tried all kinds of permutations in defence and we have always conceded goals. We have not kept a clean sheet for a long time.

“There may come a point soon when I feel it is necessary to bring in a new defender if the directors allow me to do so.

"I said when I came here that one of my objectives was to have a positive goal difference and I am failing with that. At the moment it is – 4 which has got to change. I want it to be +4 by the end of the season. I am not sure why we keep conceding but it has not just been a problem this season. If you look back at the last five seasons, this football club has never had a positive goal difference so maybe conceding goals is in the club’s DNA.”

Barnsley have conceded 46 goals in league games this season. Ipswich Town and Peterborough are the only teams to have let in more. Visiting sides have netted 24 times at Oakwell and only Nottingham Forest and Peterborough have conceded more at home.   In the five seasons since Barnsley returned to the Championship in 2006, their goal averages  have been –32, –13, –13, –16 and –11.