Haven't we been here before?

A spineless performance, bereft of passion or commitment, saw Barnsley slump to a home defeat against Barry Fry’s physical Peterborough side. The result leaves the Reds just three points above the drop zone on a day when Port Vale, Huddersfield and Stockport all picked up valuable victories.

Barnsley took the lead on fourteen minutes. Sagi Burton pulled Bruce Dyer down in the area, and Dyer converted the penalty for his eighteenth goal of the season. The Reds were just about on top at this stage, but were struggling to find any real fluency. That said, this spell was Barnsley's best of the game, so poor were they in the second half.

Peterborough equalised on the hour when, following Burton’s long throw, the referee awarded a penalty for an infringement by Crooks. Mark Arber converted the spot kick. Crooks then completed an excellent day’s work by slicing the ball into his own net after substitute Tony Scully had delivered a teasing low cross. There was still a quarter of an hour remaining, but Barnsley never once threatened an equaliser. There was no sign of urgency, no sense that the players were desperate for a point.

In short, this was a truly awful game. The ball was in the air for the vast majority of the ninety minutes, as Peterborough’s tactics were limited to launching long balls forward. Barnsley were no better, and soon began to respond in kind. This was never going to be effective: Bruce Dyer and Mike Sheron have won about six headers between them in their five seasons at the club, and clearly needed the ball at their feet to stand any chance against a physical team like Posh.

Perhaps the weakest area of the current Barnsley team is the midfield. Clearly, a three man midfield should comprise a balance of defensive and attack-minded players, but Barnsley’s doesn’t. Alex Neil, Gary Jones and Mitch Ward are virtually identical. They are “ball winners”, “work horses”, the sort of players that do a lot of unseen work off the ball. They run around a lot, basically. The problem is that they are incapable of creating ANYTHING for the front two, and contribute nothing on the goals front. Of the three midfield players that started yesterday, only Gary Jones has been on the score sheet this season, and he has only one goal to his name.

As for the defence, Andy Clarke’s pace was a constant problem for Lee Crooks, who is probably one of the slowest footballers to have graced the football league. Why Anthony Kay was sitting on the bench I have no idea. Chris Morgan demonstrated his new found maturity by getting himself booked for a wild lunge after about twenty odd seconds. I'm boring myself now, but you get the basic message: we were absolutely terrible.

As the Reds approach the final four games of the campaign, Barnsley fans are getting a disturbing sense of déjà vu. Last season, in attempting to stave off relegation, Steve Parkin’s side went on an impressive twelve match unbeaten run, which convinced many fans that the Reds had done enough to maintain their first Division status. The problem was, the unbeaten run contained too many draws, and not enough wins; as a result, we never really pulled clear of the teams at the foot of the table. In the all important final few games of the season, Barnsley’s form deserted them just as the sides around them began to pick up points. We all know the end result…