Team News
Barnsley have a number of injuries to contend with for a game they must win to stand any realistic chance of retaining their Championship status.
Marcus Pedersen, Ryan McLaughlin and Jack Hunt all have hamstring problems whilst Kelvin Etuhu’s ankle is still a problem.
Danny Wilson also has to decide whether to risk Jim O’Brien who is back in training.
Danny Rose is available after being recalled from a loan spell at Bury.
Last time out - Barnsley Team:
Luke Steele
Tom Kennedy
Martin Cranie
Jean-Yves Mvoto
Lewin Nyatanga
Paddy McCourt
Stephen Dawson
Liam Lawrence
Dale Jennings
Tomasz Cywka
Chris O’Grady
Head to Head
Last Six Barnsley v Middlesbrough results:
19/10/13 Barnsley (McCourt, O’Grady,2) 3-2 Middlesbrough (Adomah,2)
9/2/13 Middlesbrough (Carayol, Main) 2-3 Barnsley (O’Brien, Golbourne, Scotland) (Championship)
18/8/13 Barnsley (Davies) 1-0 Middlesbrough (Championship)
6/3/12 Middlesbrough (Hines, Ogbeche) 2-0 Barnsley (Championship)
16/8/11 Barnsley (McManus og) 1-3 Middlesbrough (McDonald, Robson, Emnes) (Championship)
16/4/11 Middlesbrough (McDonald) 1-1 Barnsley (Harewood) (Championship)
Overall Record:
Middlesbrough Wins: 25
Barnsley Wins: 17
Draws: 11
Middlesbrough Goals: 90
Barnsley Goals: 53
At Middlesbrough:
Middlesbrough Wins: 17
Barnsley Wins: 4
Draws: 5
Middlesbrough Goals: 50
Barnsley Goals: 16
First Met In League: Middlesbrough 3-0 Barnsley Saturday 7th October 1899.
Biggest Win: Barnsley 5-2 Middlesbrough Saturday 10th February 1900.
Biggest Defeat: Middlesbrough 5-0 Barnsley Saturday 14th November 1925 & Tuesday 26th April 1994.
Last Home Win: Barnsley (Paddy McCourt 26, Chris O’Grady 41,43) 3-2 Middlesbrough (Albert Adomah 82,84) Saturday 19th October 2013.
Last Away Win: Middlesbrough (Mustapha Carayol 50, Curtis Main 62) 2-3 Barnsley (Jim O’Brien 6, Scott Golbourne 70, Jason Scotland 76) Saturday 9th February 2013.
Last Home Draw: Barnsley (Andy Liddell) 1-1 Middlesbrough (Jan-Aage Fjortoft) Saturday 22nd April 1995.
Last Away Draw: Middlesbrough (Scott McDonald 84) 1-1 Barnsley (Marlon Harewood 22) Saturday 16th April 2011.
Last Home Defeat: Barnsley (Stephen McManus og 4) 1-3 Middlesbrough (Scott McDonald 11, Barry Robson 13, Marvin Emnes 44). Tuesday 16th August 2011.
Last Away Defeat: Middlesbrough (Seb Hines 60, Bartholomew Ogbeche 90) 2-0 Barnsley Tuesday 16th March 2012.
Last Away Meeting:
Saturday 9th February 2013
Middlesbrough 2 3 Barnsley
Carayol 50 O’Brien 6
Main 62 Golbourne 70
Scotland 76
Middlesbrough:
Jason Steele, Andre Amougou, George Friend, Rhys Williams, Seb Hines, Grant Leadbitter, Nicky Bailey, Kieron Dyer (Andy Halliday 79), Mustapha Carayol, Emmanuel Ledesma (Merouane Zemmama 79), Lukas Jutkiewicz (Curtis Main 46).
Unused substitutes:
Jayson Leutwiler, Stuart Parnaby, Josh McEachran, Richard Smallwood.
Barnsley:
Luke Steele, Scott Golbourne, Stephen Foster, Martin Cranie, Tom Kennedy, Rory Delap, Jim O’Brien (Jason Scotland 63), David Perkins, Kelvin Etuhu, Chris Dagnall (Bobby Hassell 79), Marlon Harewood (Chris O’Grady 63)
Unused substitutes:
Ben Alnwick, Scott Wiseman, Tomasz Cywka, Jacob Mellis.
Still at respective clubs:
Middlesbrough: 13 (Steele, Friend, Williams, Hines, Leadbitter, Carayol, Ledesma, Jutkiewicz- on loan at Bolton, Leutwiler, Parnaby, Halliday – on loan at Blackpool, Smallwood – on loan at Rotherham, Main)
Barnsley: 9 (Steele, Cranie, Kennedy, O’Brien, Etuhu, Hassell, O’Grady, Cywka, Mellis)
This Season:
Last six 2013-2014 results:
Middlesbrough:
22/4/14 Reading 2-0 Middlesbrough (Championship)
19/4/14 Middlesbrough (Ledesma) 1-2 Millwall (Championship)
12/4/14 Burnley 0-1 Middlesbrough (Butterfield) (Championship)
8/4/14 Middlesbrough (Graham, Butterfield, Tomlin) 3-1 Birmingham (Championship)
5/4/14 Middlesbrough (Chalobah) 1-0 Derby (Championship)
29/3/14 Brighton 0-2 Middlesbrough (Adomah, Graham) (Championship)
W: 4 D: 0 L: 2 F: 8 A: 5 GD: +3 Points: 12
Barnsley:
21/4/14 Derby 2-1 Barnsley (Proschwitz) (Championship)
19/4/14 Barnsley 0-1 Leeds (Championship)
15/4/14 Charlton 1–2 Barnsley (Mvoto, Kennedy) (Championship)
12/4/14 Bolton 1–0 Barnsley (Championship)
8/4/14 Barnsley 0–1 Burnley (Championship)
5/4/14 Barnsley 0-0 Brighton (Championship)
W: 1 D: 1 L: 4 F: 3 A: 6 GD: -3 Points: 4
Interesting Stats:
Barnsley have won the last two meetings by a 3-2 score-line in a run of three successive victories over Middlesbrough.
Their victory at the Riverside back in February is their only one there in the past six trips stretching back to 1992.
They hit three goals in that game, the first time they had ever scored that many in one game at Middlesbrough.
Victory tomorrow would be their fourth in a row against the Teesiders, something they have never managed before.
It would also give The Reds their only league double of the season.
If they fail it will be the first time they have gone through an entire season without beating at least one team home and away since 2001-2002… the last time they were relegated from this division.
Middlesbrough ended March and started April with a run of four successive wins but have since suffered back to back defeats for the first time this season.
They have not had three defeats in a row for 13 months.
Boro have lost just two of their last 12 league games at the Riverside and have been defeated just four times on their own patch this season, only Leicester, Burnley, QPR and Wigan, who all reside in the top six have lost less.
They also have one of the best defensive home records in the Championship, conceding 19 goals in 22 matches; only Burnley, QPR and Blackburn have conceded less.
Indeed Boro have kept 17 clean sheets this season, the third most in the division, Barnsley have managed just six, the lowest. There has not been a goal-less draw between these two sides for 23 meetings.
Victory would be Middlesbrough’s tenth at home in 2013-2014. They have only reached double figures in terms of home wins in five of the past 18 seasons.
Former Barnsley Academy graduate and captain Jacob Butterfield has scored in two of Boro’s last four matches.
Barnsley have to win this match to stand any chance of avoiding relegation to League One. A draw or defeat will end their eight-year stay in the Championship.
If they do go down Danny Wilson will be the first manager to suffer two relegations with Barnsley. There have been two other guys who came close; Angus Seed was Barnsley manager when they were relegated in 1937-1938 and also was in charge of another relegation campaign, 1952/1953 but left in February of that year.
Likewise Barnsley went down under Johnny Steele in 1964-1965 and he was in the hot seat at the start of 1971-1972 but left in September 1971 as The Reds went down eight months later.
It will be even more poignant considering tomorrow is 17 years to the day since Wilson led Barnsley to the Premier League for the only time in their history. They defeated Bradford 2-0 on Saturday 26th April 1997.
With just two games remaining the most victories Barnsley can accumulate in 2013-2014 is 11, providing they beat both Middlesbrough and QPR.
This would be their lowest total since that last relegation campaign of 2001/2002 when they also gained 11 wins.
However they gained 48 points that season, they can only get a total of 46 this time around so will definitely finish with their lowest Football League points tally since 1979-1980 when they also gained 46.
Should they lose both these two games they will finish on a sub 40 points total for the first time (excluding the Premier League season when they played only 38 matches) since 1971/1972
I suppose one bright note is the most league defeats they can suffer now is 25, which would be one less than the total they suffered in their first season after promotion in 2006-2007.
The Reds conceded 86 goals that year, the most in the Football League. They have let in 71 so far this campaign so should comfortably miss that tally but could go past the 74 they shipped in 2011/2012.
So far Barnsley themselves have scored 41 goals. If they do not get at least another four in these final two matches it will be their lowest Football League goals tally since 1981/1982. They scored 42 times that season yet only played 42 games, 1971/1972 was the last time they scored less than at least 45 goals in a 46 game season.
Ref Watch:
Darren Drysdale:
2013-2014: Games: 32 Yellows: 102 Reds: 8
Drysdale has shown eight red cards this season, which includes three in one match and two in another.
He also officiated a Middlesbrough match on this weekend last year.
When in charge of the Peterborough/Barnsley match on New Years Day last year, Drysdale showed yellow cards to three of Barnsley’s four defenders.
Last Middlesbrough match: Middlesbrough 2-2 Charlton, Saturday 27th April 2013. (Yellow card shown to Grant Leadbitter and Richard Smallwood)
Last Barnsley match: Peterborough 2-1 Barnsley, Tuesday 1st January 2013. (Yellow card shown to Scott Golbourne, Jim McNulty, Martin Cranie, Jim O’Brien)
On This Day:
Middlesbrough:
Played: 16 Won: 6 Drawn: 4 Lost: 5 Scored: 24 Conceded: 14.
Last match on the 26th April: 2009. Arsenal 2-0 Middlesbrough. Att: 60,089.
Last win: 1994
Last draw: 1980
Last defeat: 2009
STAT! – Middlesbrough have lost their last three matches on this date. Their last victory was 5-0 in 1994….. against Barnsley.
Barnsley:
Played: 19 Won: 7 Drawn: 3 Lost: 9 Scored: 24 Conceded: 41.
Last match on the 26th April: 2008. Barnsley (Campbell-Ryce, Nyatanga, Macken) 3-0 Charlton. Att: 11,228.
Last win: 2008
Last draw: 1980
Last defeat: 1994
STAT! – This is arguably the most famous date in Barnsley Football Club history as they secured promotion to the Premier League on it in 1997. The Reds have won each of their last three matches on this date, without conceding a goal, since that 5-0 hammering at Ayresome Park 20 years ago.
JOINT STAT- Barnsley were thumped 5-0 at Middlesbrough on this day in 1994. On the scoresheet that day was Barnsley’s Gerry Taggart scoring into his own net and a certain Paul Wilkinson, who exactly three years to the day later would set Barnsley on their way to the Premier League by netting the opening goal against Bradford.
This result ensured a league double for Boro against The Reds as they defeated them 4-1 at Oakwell in the previous August. Somebody by the name of John Hendrie scored a brace for the visitors that day…..
Mad Sites:
Official Sites:
Other Fixtures:
Friday 25th April 2014:
7:45pm:
Brighton v Yeovil
Saturday 26th April 2014:
12:15pm:
Burnley v Ipswich
3pm:
Birmingham v Leeds
Bournemouth v Nottingham Forest
Charlton v Blackburn
Derby v Watford
Doncaster v Reading
Huddersfield v Leicester
QPR v Millwall
Sheffield Wednesday v Bolton
Wigan v Blackpool