Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Thirty: Barnsley v Plymouth Argyle

Team News

Ryan Shotton is still suspended and Bobby Hassell and Rob Kozluk are still injured so Kieran Trippier will make his home debut. Jay Rodriguez is pushing to start ahead of Anderson De Silva if Mark Robins opts for a 4-4-2 formation rather than 4-4-1-1.

Likely Lineup:

Luke Steele

Carl Dickinson

Darren Moore

Stephen Foster

Kieran Trippier

Felipe Teixeira

Emil Hallfredsson

Nathan Doyle

Hugo Colace

Anderson De Silva/ Jay Rodriguez

Andy Gray

Head To Head

Barnsley fans will be looking for justice tomorrow after seeing three points snatched away from them by the weather at Home Park back in November, and the omens certainly look good. Barnsley are unbeaten against Plymouth in their last six meetings at Oakwell and the Reds have in fact lost just once at home to the Pilgrims in the last 30 years- a run of 16 matches. That one victory for Plymouth came in 1992 when they triumphed 3-1 in a Second Division encounter. That win is just one of nine that Plymouth have achieved in 30 visits to Oakwell in their history. Barnsley have also won four of the last five meetings home or away, with the one blemish being a 3-0 defeat at Home Park in February 2008 when The Reds had Lewin Nyatanga sent off in the fourth minute- a decision which was later over-turned. The Reds secured a fantastic 4-2 victory down in Devon in March 2007, and did the league double over them last season, winning 2-0 at Oakwell in December 2008 and 2-1 at Home Park on the final day of the season which secured Championship survival.

As we all know it should be five wins from the last six meetings, if the result back in November had stood. The Reds were 4-1 up when referee Gavin Ward abandoned the game after 58 minutes due to bad weather. Karl Duguid had put Plymouth in front but Daniel Bogdanovic, Emil Hallfredsson, Adam Hammill and Ryan Shotton had turned the game around before half-time.

Barnsley 2-0 Plymouth 20/12/08 Match Report

Barnsley 3-2 Plymouth 25/8/07 Match Report

Barnsley 2-2 Plymouth 17/10/06 Match Report

Last Six Barnsley v Plymouth results:

3/5/09 Plymouth 1-2 Barnsley (Championship)

20/12/08 Barnsley 2-0 Plymouth (Championship)

12/2/08 Plymouth 3-0 Barnsley (Championship)

25/8/07 Barnsley 3-2 Plymouth (Championship)

14/3/07 Plymouth 2-4 Barnsley (Championship)

17/10/06 Barnsley 2-2 Plymouth (Championship)

Overall Record:

Plymouth Wins: 29

Barnsley Wins: 17

Draws: 17

Plymouth Goals: 109

Barnsley Goals: 71

At Oakwell:

Barnsley Wins: 12

Plymouth Wins: 9

Draws: 9

Barnsley Goals: 39

Plymouth Goals: 41

This Season

Plymouth know they really need to take three points from their 605 mile round trip tomorrow to stand any hopes of staying in English football’s second tier for a seventh straight season. It has been a wretched season for the Pilgrims as they sit second from bottom of the Championship, nine points off safety. It could have been so much different though if they were a bit more prolific. Plymouth have netted just 24 goals this season – by far the lowest in the division and it has cost them in tight games- Plymouth have lost by a single goal 11 times this season, the most in the division. Like Barnsley, the Pilgrims have also had a managerial change. Paul Sturrock who steered Plymouth to promotion to this division in 2004 bit the bullet in December, two years into his second stint as boss. First team coach Paul Mariner took the reigns but has also found the going tough. The 56 year old has won just three of his 11 games in charge, losing seven of them, including the last three.

Their away form is a cause for concern as the Pilgrims have won just three times on the road- but two of those victories came against sides in the top ten- Cardiff and Middlesbrough. Plymouth though have lost 10 matches away from Home Park- only Peterborough with 11 away defeats have lost more.

Barnsley are looking for consistency after winning three and losing three of their six league games of 2010. The Reds have lost just one of their last eight home games however and have scored in every home game since the 0-0 draw with Swansea in September.

Record for 13^th February:

Barnsley have a dreadful record on the 13^th February, winning just three of the 13 played on this date and losing seven. They won their most recent match- 4-1 at home to Bristol Rovers in the FA Cup in 1999 thanks to a hat-trick from Craig Hignett and a goal from Bruce Dyer, but this is their only victory on this date in the last 10 matches. Preceding the Rovers win, The Reds had lost four 13^th February matches in a row- 1-0 to Walsall in 1965, Wrexham in 1971, Blackburn in 1988 and 2-0 to Manchester City in 1993. Their only other two victories came against Chesterfield – 4-0 in 1909 and Bury – 2-0 in 1915.

Plymouth have a fairly average record on the 13^th February, winning six and losing five. They have won two of the last three matches on this date, including the most recent – 1-0 at home to Rotherham in 1999. Plymouth’s last game on this date at this level came back in 1965 when they won 3-1 at Middlesbrough.

Incidentally this is the second time Barnsley and Plymouth have met on the 13^th February. The other occasion was at Home Park in 1932 and the Pilgrims triumphed 3-0

Overall playing record for 13^th February:

Barnsley: Played 13, Won 3, Drawn 3, Lost 7, Scored 14, Conceded 24

Plymouth: Played 13, Won 6, Drawn 2, Lost 5, Scored 24, Conceded 21

Last six 2009-2010 Results

Barnsley:

9/2/10 Middlesbrough 2-1 Barnsley (Championship)

6/2/10 Barnsley 1-0 Watford (Championship)

2/2/10 Preston 1-4 Barnsley (Championship)

30/1/10 Reading 1-0 Barnsley (Championship)

26/1/10 Barnsley 1-0 Leicester (Championship)

16/1/10 Barnsley 1-2 Sheffield Wednesday (Championship)

W: 3 D: 0 L: 3 F: 8 A: 6 GD: 2 Points: 9