Notts County gain a share of the spoils at Oakwell

No one can deny that Barnsley have made an incredible start to the season. Still in administration after almost a year, the club were only permitted to register a first team squad of twenty at the start of the season. By rights, Barnsley should be at the foot of the table but, instead, are undefeated after five games and sitting second in the League.

It therefore seems ridiculous to question or criticise the man behind this remarkable achievement, but there was an undeniable sense of frustration at Gudjon Thordason’s tactics following the disappointing draw with Notts County. It wasn’t so much that the visitors snatched an equaliser in the 90th minute, it was the fact that a County goal seemed imminent during the last twenty minutes of a game in which Barnsley seemed content to sit back and defend their marginal advantage.

The first half was a scrappy affair. As you would expect from a team in County’s position (no goals and no points leading up this game), the visitors packed their defence and made it difficult for the Reds to break them down. Barnsley played some neat and tidy football early on, but aside from parrying Chris Lumsdon’s well struck shot on 22 minutes, County keeper Steve Mildenhall was a virtual spectator.

The Reds should have taken the lead a few minutes later when Mildenhall failed to deal with Gallimore’s cross and, after a goalmouth scramble, the ball fell to Kevin Betsy. Ten yards out, with an open goal in front of him, Betsy did what most fans knew he would do, and lashed the ball wide. With his pace and dribbling ability, Betsy is undoubtedly a talented player, but his poor finishing is an increasing source of frustration at a time when Barnsley lack goal scorers. That said, if his shooting was as good as the rest of his game, it’s unlikely that Betsy would be playing in the second division.

As the second half kicked off, it was difficult to see where a Barnsley goal would come from, but the Reds took the lead after just two minutes of the restart. Lee Crooks launched a long ball towards the head of Rory Fallon. Fallon didn’t get a touch, but neither did County defender Tony Barras, and the ball fell kindly into the path of Dean Gorre, who took a touch before rifling the ball home from eight yards. The goal was the catalyst for a fifteen minute spell of Barnsley dominance, during which Betsy sliced a shot wide, and Kay went close with a thumping drive that was beaten out by Mildenhall.

After 75 minutes, the injured Lumsdon was replaced by Paul Gibbs, and this change seemed to halt Barnsley’s attacking momentum. The midfield began to sit deeper and deeper, almost inviting County to push forward. The visitors easily mopped up Barnsley’s increasingly rare attacks, most of which consisted of hitting long balls to Fallon, and County began to cause problems for the Barnsley back four. At this stage, The game was crying out for the introduction of someone to support Fallon, but Thordason seemed happy to persist with a lone striker.

On 86 minutes, Gibbs cleared Baldry’s goal bound shot off the line after a County corner, prompting a Barnsley break which resulted in that man Betsy again failing to beat Middleman, this time from all of two yards. The Reds paid the price in the dying moments of game, when an innocuous looking ball fell at the feet of substitute Paul Heffernan, who had somehow found acres of space in the heart of the Barnsley penalty area. Heffernan turned and produced a smart finish to claim County’s first goal of the season. Brimming with confidence now, the visitors almost snatched a winner in injury time, leaving Barnsley to reflect on two points thrown away.

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of yesterday’s game was an over-reliance on Rory Fallon and a reluctance for our midfield players to push forward. Our 4-5-1 formation has served us well so far this season, and Fallon has turned in some excellent performances, but it was obvious yesterday that, with County putting two and sometimes three men on Fallon, pumping the ball up to him was not going to be an effective tactic. Sadly, the players failed to notice, and continued to do just that: even when Fallon did win the flick on, or keep hold of the ball, he lacked support from the midfield. As the home team against a side so low on confidence, surely Thordason could have replaced one of our defensive players with Rankin, particularly when we started to lose our grip on the game in the second half? Similarly, why was a defender (Gibbs) brought on to replace Lumsdon? Where was Hayward, who has performed excellently so far this season?

Despite the disappointment of yesterday, Barnsley fans shouldn’t be anything but ecstatic about the start that we have made to the season. Thordason deserves nothing but praise for the way in which he has instilled a tremendous team spirit and work ethic amongst his players, some of whom are on rolling contracts. Lets hope that he is allowed to carry on this good work if (as is still rumoured) Mr Ridsdale takes over. The consistent performances of his four pre-season signings - Ilic, Handyside, Ireland and Gallimore - bodes well should Thordason be given funds to strengthen the squad. All in all, the future looks a lot brighter than even the most optimistic Barnsley fan would have hoped for.