…………….After all today’s games, and despite Barnsley still being in the bottom three, it means Championship survival is in The Reds’ hands. Victory at Huddersfield next weekend will ensure they stay up and will relegate either Peterborough, Millwall (unless they win in midweek), Sheffield Wednesday or Huddersfield themselves.
Barnsley picked up their first win in six matches, against a Hull City side who would have guaranteed promotion to the Premier League with victory.
It means The Reds have lost just two of 11 home games in all competitions under the stewardship of David Flitcroft, winning eight of them. They had failed to win any of the 11 prior to this.
Today, the final home game of the season, was watched by the biggest crowd at Oakwell this season- 15,744, bolstered by 5,500 making the short trip from across the Humber.
It is the club’s smallest “highest” attendance of a season since the 2005-2006 League One campaign.
It stretched Barnsley’s unbeaten “last home game of the season” run to three matches and they have lost just one of the last six.
Today’s shut out gave Barnsley their fourth clean sheet in seven outings.
The win puts them on 54 points, equal to their tally of 2009-2010. Three points at the Galpharm would see them eclipse their best ever points tally since returning to the Championship and give them their highest tally at this level since the 1999-2000 Play-Off Final campaign.
Chris O’Grady’s sublime effort to put The Reds 2-0 up was his fifth goal for the club since arriving on loan from Sheffield Wednesday and the 27 year old has netted in four of his last seven games at Oakwell (or five in eight if you include his effort for the Owls there in December)
This result also means The Reds have had a remarkable record against the division’s top eight sides. They have played them all in the six weeks and their record reads: W:4 D:3 L:1
Barnsley Team:
Luke Steele
Scott Wiseman
Martin Cranie
Tom Kennedy
Jim O’Brien
David Perkins
Jacob Mellis
Reuben Noble-Lazarus
Chris O’Grady
Chris Dagnall
Kelvin Etuhu (YC)
Substitutes:
Jason Scotland (for Mellis 68)
Jim McNulty (for Dagnall 79)
Danny Rose (for O’Grady 90)
Unused Substitutes:
Ben Alnwick, Andrai Jones, Tomasz Cywka, Marlon Harewood.
Match Reports:
Npower Championship results Saturday 27th April 2013:
BARNSLEY 2-0 Hull
Blackburn 1-1 Crystal Palace
Blackpool 2-1 Derby
Bristol City 1-3 Huddersfield
Cardiff 1-1 Bolton
Ipswich 3-1 Birmingham
Leeds 1-2 Brighton
Middlesbrough 2-2 Charlton
Millwall 0-1 Nottingham Forest
Wolves 1-2 Burnley
Peterborough 1–0 Sheffield Wednesday
Barnsley lie in 22nd place in the Npower Championship with 54 points from 45 games.
We are 13 points off the Play-Offs 24 points off the Automatic Promotion Places, 32 points off First place and inside the Relegation Zone on Goal Difference.
Up to 27.4.13
Next Up:
On The Road:
Npower Championship Matchday Forty Six: Huddersfield Town v Barnsley Saturday 4th May 2013: Kick-Off: 12:45pm
Tickets:
Adult: £25
Over 60: £15
Full time student: £15
Under 16: £10
Under 8: £5