Dyer's late strike earns a point for the Reds

Iain Dowie brought his Oldham side to Oakwell today and saw them twice pegged back by a Barnsley team whose committed display fully merited a point, if not all three.

After a scrappy opening, it became apparent that Dowie’s plans for promotion include two key tactics:

1 – Never, repeat NEVER, play a short pass or try to play your way through midfield. Always knock the ball long for your “physical”, pacy strikers

2 – In challenging an opponent, always make sure that you manhandle them at every opportunity. Above all, tug their shirts and put your arms across their bodies / faces to stop them moving.

Its fair to say that Oldham were the dirtiest team to visit Oakwell for some time, and it’s to Barnsley’s credit that they competed so well, particularly in light of the incompetent (Lancashire born?!?) referee and his equally useless assistants. To be fair to the referee, he did manage to annoy both sets of fans, but I think the home side had the major reasons to feel aggrieved, since both of Oldham’s goals were preceded by dubious decisions. The first goal came from a free kick that should never have been awarded: Mulligan and Armstrong challenged for the ball near the touchline, the ball ran out of play and they both collided with the linesman. The crowd’s laughter at seeing the linesman sprawled on the turf was drowned out by the cries of disbelief and anger that followed his decision to award a free kick to the visitors.

In the build up to the second goal, Oldham’s John Eyre laid the ball off near the touchline a split second before a Barnsley challenge came in, prompting an outrageous did-you-see-that-have-a-word-ref dive. Rather than stopping the game and booking Eyre, the referee chose to ignore this theatrical display, and substitute Chris Killen scored from the resulting cross.

Barnsley can take many positives from the game. In twice coming back from behind, the Reds displayed the battling qualities that they have lacked so often this season. At the back, Mike Flynn had his best game in a Barnsley shirt, while Kevin Betsy worked tirelessly against the competitive / committed / downright dirty Oldham defence. Bruce Dyer, while largely anonymous for much of the game, produced a superb turn and shot to claim Barnsley’s late (but richly deserved) second equaliser.

Alongside him, the footballing enigma that is Mike ‘Juan Sebastian’ Sheron, turned in another excellent performance. Sheron is a player that splits Barnsley fans like no other, loved and loathed in equal measures. His supporters claim that he is a skilful intelligent player, superb at bringing other people into the game, a class act. His critics would argue that he is a work shy fop who couldn’t finish his breakfast. The most frustrating thing is that both assessments can be accurate: it just depends what mood or frame of mind Mr Sheron is in. Today, he was in a positive one, and he was superb at times, most notably when he produced a beautiful strike from the edge of the area which immediately cancelled out Baudet's opening goal for the visitors.

All in all, a point was a good result for the Reds. On the one hand, Barnsley enjoyed more possession than Oldham, and can look back at a few missed chances (Jones should have at least hit the target after Sheron set him up in the first half, and Morgan had a free header from a corner in the second). That said, Oldham were always dangerous on the break, and Wijnhard should have done better on at least two occasions. Ultimately, the Reds were hanging on at the end, and Marriott came to the rescue after Flynn chose to make his first mistake of the day in the 93rd minute, his weak header allowing Corazzin a clear run at the Barnsley goal.

Following last week’s impressive away win at Peterborough, this Barnsley side could, at last, be hitting some sort of consistency. We can but hope. What is clear is that the Reds can match any team in this division on their day. If Glyn Hodges is going to hang on the manager’s post at Oakwell, he needs to make sure that his team have “their day” on a far more regular basis than they have so far this season.

Still, if Mike ‘three goals in two games’ Sheron can do it, there’s hope yet…