Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Twenty Eight: Barnsley v Watford

Team News

Filipe Teixeira should make his home debut after a fantastic performance at Preston in midweek, whilst fellow loanee- debut goal-scorer Jay Rodriguez should be on the bench again. Full backs Bobby Hassell and Rob Kozluk are both missing, but Hassell should be back for next Tuesday’s visit to Middlesbrough. Jon Macken, if selected is set to make his 100^th appearance for the club.

Likely Lineup:

Luke Steele

Carl Dickinson

Darren Moore

Stephen Foster

Ryan Shotton

Felipe Teixeira

Emil Hallfredsson

Nathan Doyle

Hugo Colace

Anderson De Silva

Andy Gray

Head To Head

Barnsley have a pretty decent record against Watford and have lost just one of the last six meetings. That one defeat was this season though- in manager Mark Robins first game in charge. That 1-0 defeat at Vicarage Road back in September courtesy of a goal from Danny Graham left The Reds bottom of the Championship with just a single point- how things have changed!

Apart from this aberration The Reds have a good record against the Hornets, winning four of five meetings previously. They did the double over then manager Aidy Boothroyd’s side in 2007-2008, winning 3-2 at Oakwell, and then 3-0 at Vicarage Road, a game made memorable by Kayode Odejayi scoring a brace just three days after missing THAT chance at Wembley. They collected four points off Watford last season, winning 2-1 at Oakwell in a game where a rare strike from Miguel Mostto produced the winner, and then drew 1-1 at Watford- in a game that should have seen The Reds take all three points. Jon Macken gave The Reds the lead after 67 minutes but an error from keeper Heinz Muller saw Tommy Smith rescue a point with just two minutes remaining.

In all Barnsley have won 11 of their 23 Oakwell meetings, with Watford claiming six victories, the last of which came in December 2000 when a goal from Allan Neilson secured a 1-0 win. This season was the last time The Hornets claimed a double over The Reds as they also won 1-0 at Vicarage Road in August 2000. Dominic Foley in the 90^th minute winning that one.

Watford 1-1 Barnsley Match Report 11/4/09

Barnsley 2-1 Watford Match Report 15/11/08

Barnsley 3-2 Watford Match Report 24/11/07

Last Six Barnsley v Watford results:

12/9/09 Watford 1-0 Barnsley (Championship)

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

15/11/08 Barnsley 2-1 Watford (Championship)

9/4/08 Watford 0-3 Barnsley (Championship)

24/11/07 Barnsley 3-2 Watford (Championship)

23/3/02 Barnsley 2-0 Watford (Division One)

Overall Record:

Barnsley Wins: 18

Watford Wins: 16

Draws: 14

Barnsley Goals: 58

Watford Goals: 53

At Oakwell:

Barnsley Wins: 11

Watford Wins: 6

Draws: 6

Barnsley Goals: 32

Watford Goals: 21

This Season

Malky Mackay is starting to make his mark as Watford boss after replacing Brendan Rogers in the summer. Rogers led the Hornets to 13^th before leaving for Reading in June, and Mackay who played 52 times for Watford has managed to shove them into the top half, winning nine of their 27 matches. They have dipped in recent weeks however and Tuesday night’s 3-0 win over Sheffield United was their first success in eight matches. Their away form is a cause for concern and the main reason they are not threatening the play-off places. The Hornets have won just three times on their travels- the last of which came at Middlesbrough in October. Since then they have lost six of the next eight away matches, and have shipped 26 goals on their travels- only Scunthorpe and Reading have a more porous defence away from home.

Tuesday’s fantastic 4-1 win at Preston saw Barnsley claim just their second win of 2010, and ended a run of four defeats in five. The Reds have lost just one of their last seven home games-2-1 to Sheffield Wednesday but they have won just five times at Oakwell this season- the lowest number of home wins in the top half. If they triumph against Watford tomorrow it would be the first time they have achieved back to back wins since beating Cardiff and then Blackpool in November/December and would be only the third time they have achieved back to back wins this season.

Record for 6^th February:

Barnsley have a pretty poor record on the 6^th February, winning just four of the 11 matches played on this date. Three of those wins came in successive 6^th February matches when they defeated Huddersfield in 1961, Brighton in 1971 and Workington in 1974, all by 1-0 scorelines. Their other 6^th February victory was also 1-0 against Hartlepools in 1954. The Reds haven’t won in their last three games on this date, drawing the last two. Their last match on the 6^th February was back in 1999 when they drew 2-2 at home to Crewe in Division One. Rodney Jack put Crewe 2-0 up but then two goals in three minutes from Eric Tinkler and Arjan De Zueew rescued a point for The Reds.

Watford have an excellent 6^th February record winning 11 times in 16 matches, but they have won just one of the last five. Amazingly before this they had won eight in a row on this date. Since then they have drawn 0-0 at Norwich in 1988, lost 5-2 at Millwall in 1993, lost 2-0 at Bradford in 1999, and lost 2-1 at home to Burnley in 2002 before breaking that run by winning their most recent match on this date, 4-1 at Sheffield United in 2006. Tomorrow will be the seventh time out of Watford’s last eight matches on this date that they have been away.

Overall playing record for 2^nd February:

Barnsley: Played: 11 Won: 4 Drawn: 4 Lost: 3 Scored: 11 Conceded: 15

Watford: Played: 16 Won: 11 Drawn: 2 Lost: 3 Scored: 34 Conceded: 17

Last six 2009-2010 Results

Barnsley:

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)

9/1/10 Coventry 3-1 Barnsley (Championship)

2/1/10 Scunthorpe 1-0 Barnsley (FA Cup)

W: 2 D: 0 L: 4 F: 7 A: 8 GD: -1 Points: 6