Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Forty Two: Barnsley v Swansea

Team News

Adam Hammill is pushing for a starting spot in the Reds penultimate home game of the season. Hammill put in a Man of the Match display when coming off the bench at Watford. Michael Mifsud may also be dropped in a striker role for Daniel Bogdanovic. Diego Leon is fit for the first time since January.

Likely Line-Up:

Heinz Muller

Rob Kozluk

Stephen Foster

Darren Moore

Bobby Hassell

Andranik Teymourian

Anderson De Silva

Adam Hammill

Jamal Campbell-Ryce

Jon Macken

Michael Mifsud/Daniel Bogdanovic

Head to Head

The 2006 League One Play-Off Finalists meet at Oakwell for the first time since that season and The Reds go into the game without a normal time win against the Championship's draw specialists in the last five meetings. The last three encounters have finished 2-2, including the meeting at the Liberty Stadium back in December. The Reds led 2-0 with 25 minutes remaining courtesy of goals from Jon Macken and a Jamal Campbell-Ryce penalty. But strikes from Jason Scotland in the 66^th and 94^th minutes cost two vital points. Obviously the most famous meeting between the two sides came at the Millennium Stadium in 2006. Another 2-2 draw was followed by a penalty shootout which The Reds won 4-3 to gain promotion back to the Championship. The last Oakwell meeting was also a four goal shared event. All the goals arrived in a 16 minute spell in the second half. Andy Robinson gave the Swans the lead on 48 minutes but Danny Nardiello (56) and a Marc Richards penalty (61) turned the game around. Lee Trundle equalised four minutes later. It means that the last three meetings have all had penalties in them. Barnsley's last victory over Swansea in 90minutes came in a Second Division match back in 1983 when they won 3-2.

Barnsley 2-2 Swansea Match Report 27/5/06

Barnsley 2-2 Swansea Match Report 4/3/06

Last Six Barnsley v Swansea Results:

9/12/08 Swansea 2-2 Barnsley (Championship)

27/5/06 Barnsley 2-2 Swansea (Barnsley win 4-3 on pens) (League One Play-Off Final)

4/3/06 Barnsley 2-2 Swansea (League One)

29/8/05 Swansea 3-1 Barnsley (League One)

10/3/84 Swansea 1-0 Barnsley (Second Division)

12/11/83 Barnsley 3-2 Swansea (Second Division)

Overall Record:

Barnsley Wins: 23

Swansea Wins: 30

Draws: 12

Barnsley Goals: 85

Swansea Goals: 100

At Oakwell:

Barnsley Wins: 19

Swansea Wins: 7

Draws: 6

Barnsley Goals: 52

Swansea Goals: 32

This Season

If it wasn't for so many stalemates Swansea would be comfortably in the play-off places after a fine first season in the Championship. Roberto Martinez's side stormed to the League One title last season and have not looked out of place in their first year in English football's second flight for 24 years. They currently sit 7^th in the table, seven points off the play-offs. But the fact they have drawn 20 of their 42 games has stifled another promotion push. Those stalemates even include a Football League record of eight successive draws between November and December. The Reds came the closest to ending the run at just three matches but Jason Scotland's injury time equaliser denied them. Ironically after those draws, Swansea went on to win their next five matches! At the moment they are unbeaten in three matches, but unsurprisingly two of those games were draws with a 2-1 win over Barnsley's relegation rivals Norwich on Saturday their only win in the last five games.

Barnsley threw away points for the third game in a row at the weekend. After drawing with Nottingham Forest and a late defeat at Sheffield United, they drew 1-1 at Watford despite leading with just two minutes to go. This leaves The Reds just three points above the drop zone and after this game they have just one more at home- league leaders Wolves!

Last Six Results:

Barnsley:

11/4/09 Watford 1-1 Barnsley (Championship)

7/4/09 Sheffield United 2-1 Barnsley (Championship)

4/4/09 Barnsley 1-1 Nottingham Forest (Championship)