Barnsley boss Jose Morais said his side lost the game in the first-half after their 2-1 defeat to Burton Albion on Tuesday night.
Burton dominated the opening 45 minutes at Oakwell and took hold of the game straight from kick-off.
Jamie Allen netted his first Albion goal in under 55 seconds with a long-range strike to put them ahead and make Morais' first game in charge even more of a challenge.
Manchester City loanee Jacob Davenport then doubled Burton's lead with a curling free-kick that gave Barnsley goalkeeper Nick Townsend no chance and sent the visitors into half-time with a two goal cushion over their relegation rivals at the break.
"In the first half we had difficulty controlling the midfield, we gave some space to the opponent that they used that to control the game more," Morais said.
"Even without scoring chances, they have the possibility to have the ball and we weren't effective enough to have the control to create chances in the first half.
"I believe sometimes the game is like that. They scored two goals, one of the goals was a fantastic goal, a shot from distance that’s difficult for the goalkeeper to save.
"But from that situation I believed we could recover. Then in the last minute a free-kick taken with very good quality means we concede a second goal.
"It was very hard for our boys to go into the break and into the dressing room losing 2-0 in a game that you expected much better than the result we could get."
However, in the second half, Barnsley didn't let Burton have it all their own way, finally breaching the Brewers' defensive line through a deflected effort from Dani Pinillos to set up a tense finish to the game.
The Tykes looked to have completed the comeback when Mamadou Thiam slotted home, only for it to be ruled out for offside.
Morais was diplomatic about the offside call, but believed his side should still have had a penalty for a foul on Ollie McBurnie in the build-up.
"I'm not a referee, but in my opinion it is probably a goal," Morais added.
"I can't doubt about the offside because I'm far away and the referee is the one who decides.
"But from my point of view if it wasn't a goal, there was a penalty before.
"It is just my opinion, I can't do anything now."
