ROVERS boss Graeme Souness was pleased to see his unsettled striker Ciccio Grabbi get on the score sheet.

He said: "We let ourselves down in the final half an hour. We were 3-0 up and we should have made it an exhibition for our fans.

"I was pleased Grabbi scored but he should have had more. He says he does it every day in training.

"He was unlucky not to get one-on-one a couple of times but it was his first 90 minutes for a long time."

Barnsley player Chris Morgan said: "We are disappointed to lose our eight game unbeaten run. We would have liked to keep it going.

"Everyone had a go but we gave them three goals, we didn't make them work for it.

"If you give a Premier side three goals you are never going to win the game.

"We had to believe that once we got it back to 3-1 we coud make it 3-2 and then perhaps sneak one but you have to be realistic.

"They are not going to let you back into it.

"They are a good team and it was good testing myself against a player like Mark Hughes.

"He may not be the quickest now but he has still got it all upstairs. He is still a great player."

Tykes boss Steve Parkin said: "I always seem to get a penalty decision here! I couldn't see whether it was a penalty or not from the dug out as it is low down.

"We gave three bad goals away. If they had cut us to pieces then fair enough but we are disappointed with the defending on all three goals.

"I was impressed with the way the lads kept going, they never let their heads drop and had a couple of chances with some free headers in box and then we got the goal. We kept plugging away.

"Although Graeme had made some changes it was still a team full of quality internationals and good players.

"We knew it would be difficult but I think we showed them too much respect at times and we were punished."