February 2007
February saw the arrivals of two unknown Hungarian strikers Peter Rajczi and Istvan Ferenczi, their impact though would certainly be known by the end of the month.
Feb started with a date in front of the Sky Cameras as Barnsley travelled back to the scene of their finest hour the previous season - Cardiff to take on Peter Ridsdale, Stephen McPhail and Michael Chopra.
Despite trying hard though The Reds lacked a cutting edge and slumped to defeat thanks to two goals set up and scored from Oakwell hero Chopra.
A slip by Antony Kay on 11 minutes allowed Chopra to wriggle free. And despite seeing his effort blocked the ball fell to Peter Whittingham who just managed to nudge it behind the line before Nick Colgan clawed it away.
Kay was again at fault for the 2nd goal, crucially just before half-time as he sent Chopra tumbling and the former England U21 International delivered a delicious free kick around the wall and past Colgan who again got a hand to the ball.
Next up was arguably the lowest point of the entire season when Colchester United travelled to Oakwell and a glut of mistakes saw the Us 2-0 up within 10 minutes.
First of all after just 3 minutes
Dwayne Mattis - surely a contender for worst ever Barnsley signing- slipped to allow Kem Izzet to cross deep in the Reds area. Young centre back Rob Atkinson missed his header but the ball fell nicely to Adam Eckersley. What followed was one of those "got to be there to believe it scenarios".
Eckersley bizarrely attempted to pass the ball back to Colgan from barely 6yards away. The ball ricocheted off Colgan's legs and U's skipper Karl Duguid could barely believe his luck as he rammed the loose ball home.
The game was effectively up 7minutes later.
Kevin Watson lofted a ball forward from midfield which former Reds target Chris Iwelumo controlled before flicking the ball through to Jamie Cureton who glided through a static home "defence" and rifled his shot past Colgan.
For the remaining 80 minutes a dejected Barnsley huffed and puffed with Rajczi and Ferenczi still adapting and Colchester finished the misery with 10 minutes remaining and on loan striker Hogan Ephraim danced around clumsy challenges from Paul Reid and Robert Atkinson to drill past Colgan.
The boos for Simon Davey were clearly evident.
It was to get worse before it got better however with a daunting trip to promotion chasing Southampton next up.
Barnsley turned the form book upside down however when a suspiciously looking offside Daniel Nardiello raced clear to fire The Reds in front after just 2 minutes.
Southampton were level just 8minutes later through eventual hat-trick hero Andrew Surman.
It took until the 47th minute for Southampton to gain the lead when ex Owl loanee Kenwyne Jones took advantage of a Lewin Nyatanga slip to finish past Colgan.
But Barnsley were level with 21minutes to go as Istvan Ferenczi grabbed his first English goal from a terrific header from a Sam Togwell corner.
Jones converted a penalty given away by a seemingly non existent foul from Ferenczi on 73 minutes to almost instantly regain Southampton's lead and the game changed totally when Danny Nardiello was bizarrely sent off for an off the ball incident and Southampton ran away with the game.
Surman with goals in the 80th and 90th min gave the scoreline a some what unlucky slant to it.
Just 3 days later came the pivotal moment of the season when fellow relegation strugglers Hull City came to Oakwell and Ferenczi and Rajczi were partnered up front for the first time.
Ferenczi eased nerves with his 2nd goal in a row after 16 minutes when he took advantage of a defensive slip to coolly finish past the advancing Boaz Myhill.
No sooner had the second half kicked off and the crucial 2nd goal arrived.
A great ball split the Hull defence and Rajczi showed great pace to race away towards goal before finishing fantastically for an outstanding goal.
Ferenczi then put the rather juicy icing on the cake with a bullet header from an exquisite Brian Howard cross.
For now the smiles were back!!
They stayed when the SKY Cameras visited the Britannia Stadium for a match with play-off hopefuls Stoke City.
In all fairness Stoke totally dominated the game but it was Barnsley and that man Ferenczi who grabbed the only goal of the game.
A lighting break-away just before half-time saw Rajczi race away before slipping Ferenczi in the clear and he made no mistake with a classy finish past the outstretched hands of Steve Simonsen.
It was the only shot on target Barnsley had the whole game and boy did they make it count.
The second 45 was just constant Stoke bombardment and Grant McCann was forced to head off the line but the heroic Reds held on for 3 more vital relegation points and a 3 point gap between us and the bottom 3!
February Record: W:2 D:0 L: 3
Record: 26/2/07
W:11 D:5 L:19 F:39 A:58 GD: -19 Points: 38 Pos: 19th
Cardiff City 2-0 Barnsley Match Report
Barnsley 0-3 Colchester United Match Report