Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Fourteen: Barnsley 1-1 Hull City

Last updated : 31 October 2010 By Rob Miles (Barnsley Boy)

Barnsley threw this game away at about 5pm yesterday. When Mark Robins announced that he had dropped Jacob Butterfield- the Reds sole performer in the 3-0 defeat at Coventry last weekend- for Hugo Colace, Barnsley’s chances of securing a fifth home win in seven disappeared.

Adam Hammill briefly raised the spirits by adding a few more clubs to the ever growing list prepared to pay £500,000 to take him away from Oakwell in January, with a stunning 35yard effort that put The Reds in front, and the Liverpudlian was the only ray of light for 78 minutes, until Butterfield finally entered the fray and almost single-handedly won it.

By then Hull had grabbed an equaliser with their only effort on target- that’s if you exclude the goal disallowed for an apparent foul on Luke Steele at the end of the first half. TV replays didn’t seem to show much of a foul, just Steele doing his usual flapping routine at set-pieces.

Hull even had to play the final 34 minutes with nine and a half men after Caleb Folan’s knee ballooned up after colliding with Steele when he raced through on goal and clipped the crossbar with a chipped effort over the Reds keeper. By this point the Tigers had used all three of their substitutions- Folan being one of them- so the former Leeds trainee had to limp around on his own upfront. Still, he made more of an impact with one leg than either Andy Gray or Paul Hayes on his second Reds debut did with two. Neither of the Reds strikers got into the game, and were well marshalled by Hull’s long serving captain Andy Dawson. It probably should not come as any surprise when you consider that between them this season Hayes and Gray have managed just six goals in 25 appearances.

It was left to Hammill to find a way through, something that worryingly is becoming a regular occurrence. The 22 year old enhanced his burgeoning reputation and his habit of scoring spectacular goals by hitting a stunner for his fifth strike of the campaign after 23 minutes.

Receiving the ball from Nathan Doyle, he jinked inside and out of Tom Cairney before curling an absolute beauty that dipped over Matt Duke, who was a few yards off his line and in off the underside of the crossbar. It was a special strike from a player, who if he does leave in January will leave a rather large void that Barnsley will struggle greatly to fill.

The winger came close again from a similar distance on 43 minutes but this time Duke was equal to it and The Reds had their first let off on the stroke of half time. Cairney swung in a free kick that Steele flapped at and the ball eluded everybody before nestling in the net. Luckily for Steele, referee Andy D’Urso- who was the referee who missed the elbow by Chris Morgan that fractured Iain Hume’s skull- managed to see a pretty non-existent foul on Steele by Kamil Zayatte and disallowed the effort.

Hull boss Nigel Pearson rang the changes at half time replacing Jamie Devitt with John Bostock and Rowan Vine with Folan. It certainly had an impact as the Tigers began to live up to their nickname and they should have been level after 56 minutes. A poor offside trap allowed Folan to race in behind, Steele came rushing out, but Folan managed to lift the ball over the keeper and it looked all the way a goal before bouncing on the ground at the last minute and coming back off the crossbar. Folan’s collision with Steele left the striker writhing in agony and his right knee ballooned up. If Hull had had any more changes left there is no doubt he would have come off but having used them all, he limped back on after considerable treatment.

The Reds never heeded the let off they had been granted and continued to defend ever deeper. They were inevitably punished on 72 minutes with Hull’s first effort on target. Another Cairney free kick caused problems and when Jason Shackell and Stephen Foster failed to make a proper connection with the ball, Kevin Kilbane rifled the rebound past Steele.

This belatedly lifted The Reds and in particular Robins into action and with 12 minutes remaining the biggest cheer of the night went up when Butterfield emerged from the dug out to replace Colace. His impact was almost immediate, twisting and turning past three defenders before being denied by the legs of Duke. The Reds were denied what looked a clear penalty eight minutes from time when Dawson hauled Jim O’Brien to the floor as they both chased a Hammill cross and Butterfield again came close when his looping header was cleared off the line by Dawson and then the rebound clipped the top of the crossbar. Hammill forced Duke into a sprawling save right at the death too, but The Reds had left it too little too late. Mr Robins had left it 78 minutes too late!

Player Ratings:

Luke Steele – Lucky to get away with a flap on the stroke of half time and had a pretty quiet night. 6

Bobby Hassell – His first home start since September and was his usual dependable self. Didn’t get forward as much as normal though. 6

Stephen Foster – Dealt superbly with Vine in the first half, but struggled with Folan, and an injured Folan in the second. 6

Jason Shackell – Another who struggled with Folan and along with Foster was at fault for the Hull goal. 6

Matt Hill – Has bags of pace and likes to get forward. A bit suspect defending however. Booked. 6

Jim O’Brien – Did not come alive until the last five minutes when he was denied what looked a stonewall penalty. Certainly isn’t meriting inclusion every week. Subbed. 5

Hugo Colace – Only Robins will know how and why he was preferred to Butterfield. His only contribution was needless booking. Booked. Subbed. 5

Nathan Doyle – The fact he was playing against his former club seemed to mean he wanted to shoot at every opportunity. Due to him only ever having scored two goals in his career, it wasn’t the best option. 5

Adam Hammill – For 78 minutes the only decent Barnsley player on the pitch. Scored a stunner, and came close from a similar distance. Was quieter in the second half until Butterfield came on and then the two linked up superbly. If only they had been on together for 90 minutes… Booked. 8

Paul Hayes – In his first stint at the club, he netted in his first two games. Never looked like getting on the score sheet last night however. 5

Andy Gray – Is beginning to look like an absolute carthorse. Was beaten every time in the air and just gets knocked off the ball when it comes to feet. 3

Substitutions: 

Jacob Butterfield (for Colace 78) Was showered with praise from local and national media last week despite being in a side that lost 3-0. His reward? Benched for 78 minutes until he came on and very nearly won the game. Over 10,000 supporters can see he needs to start every week, only Robins cant. 8

Jeronimo Neumann (for O’Brien 90) Another bizarre tactic that Robins seems to have is bringing attacking players on in the 90th minute when the team are not winning. What impact are they supposed to make? N/A

Unused: David Preece, Luke Potter, Kieran Trippier, Diego Arismendi, Chris Wood.

Sponsor’s Man of the Match: Adam Hammill.

BarnsleyBoy's Man of the Match: Adam Hammill: For 78 minutes the only player who looked capable of producing something. A host of clubs will be licking their lips at his paltry £500,000 release fee.

HULL CITY: Duke, Zayatte, Dawson, McShane, Kilbane, Cairney, Barmby (Cullen 28), Devitt (Bostock 45), Gerrard, Vine (Folan 45), Rosenior.


Subs: Solano, Simpson, Garcia, Mannone.

Most Impressed by Hull’s: Caleb Folan: Only the on the pitch for 45 minutes and was playing on one leg for 34 of those. Yet still caused more problems than our front two.

Ref Watch: Andy D’Urso: Will always be remembered for failing to send off Chris Morgan for the elbow that put Hume out of action for over a year, but despite missing what looked a clear penalty for O’Brien he did little else wrong. 6

Npower Championship results: Saturday 30th October 2010:

BARNSLEY 1-1 Hull

Cardiff 3-1 Norwich

Crystal Palace 0-3 Swansea

Derby 4-1 Watford

Ipswich 2-0 Millwall

Leicester 1-0 Preston

Middlesbrough 1-2 Bristol City

Portsmouth 2-1 Nottingham Forest

QPR 1-1 Burnley

Reading 4-3 Doncaster

Scunthorpe 1-4 Leeds

Sheffield United 0-1 Coventry

Barnsley lie in 17th place in the Npower Championship with 16 points from 14 games.

We are 6 points off the Play-Offs, 14 points off the Automatic Promotion Places, 16 points off First place and 3 points above the Relegation Zone.

Up to 31.10.10.

Next Up:

At Oakwell:

Npower Championship Matchday Fifteen: Barnsley v Leicester City Saturday 6th November 2010 Kick-Off 3pm

Tickets:

Adults - £22.00
Senior Citizens (Over 60) - £12.00
Juveniles (Under 18) - £12.00
Juveniles (Under 12) - £6.00

On The Road:

Npower Championship Matchday Sixteen: Preston North End v Barnsley Tuesday 9th November 2010 Kick-Off 7:45pm.

Adults - £22.
Senior Citizens (Over 60) - £13.00
Young Adult (16 - 20) - £13.00
Juveniles (Under 16) - £5.00

Juveniles (Under 5) – Free with paying adult.
Disabled Supporters - Contact the Box Office For More Information