Drop fear BARNSLEY goalscorer Brian Howard has delivered a blunt relegation warning in the aftermath of Saturday's 2-1 home defeat by Luton Town. "I've said before that people have made us favourites to go down. If we carry on doing that, then we will go down," he said. "We outplayed Preston with 10 men and outplayed Luton and we've got no points to show for it. There's no point in us saying we're the best side in the division footballing wise when we've got no points on the board." Howard and teammates refused to blame teenage goalkeeper Vito Mannone for the loss despite his blunder for Ahmet Brkovic's goal late in time added on. "He's only a kid, you can't blame him," Howard stressed. "But it's people's livelihoods, the fans paid to watch. "I think we'd played some great stuff. The back four were pretty solid all the way through. They had a couple of chances. We created a lot but we didn't take them. "I think, in the end, it was just one of those things in football but it was so hard to take. "It's just a lack of concentration. He'd been spot on all the way through the game." Mannone was making his full league debut because regular keeper Nick Colgan was serving a one-match ban for a red card at Preston. Barnsley were also missing skipper Paul Reid for the fourth match in a row. He has been training but was left out of the squad as Bobby Hassell took his place in the team. Neil Austin played in Hassell's usual position at right-back but limped out of the game just before the end. "I think he'll be all right, it's just a kick in his calf," manager Andy Ritchie said. Barnsley's next game is not until October 14 when they play Sheffield Wednesday away. Meanwhile, Paul Sturrock is welcoming a two-week break for his bottom-of-the-table Wednesday side. The Owls manager will use the lay-off - caused by this weekend's international programme - to gear up for a fresh start to the club's Championship campaign. Sturrock will seek to rebuild players' confidence, which may have been affected by three consecutive defeats. He will also fine-tune his squad on the training ground and use two reserve games as a means of building up certain players' fitness. 02 October 2006
