It may have been a draw, at home, which made it just one win in five at Oakwell, but this point felt more like three after The Reds turned in a stunning second half performance to dominate league leaders Newcastle and end their fantastic winning streak at seven games.
Only twice this season had a team managed more than one goal against Newcastle in a game, and nobody had managed it during their septuple of victories, with only two goals conceded overall in that run… Barnsley could have had more.
Apart from the opening 10 minutes, when the players seemed to catch stage-fright at playing Newcastle United, they more than matched their opponents and in the second half over-powered them!
That opening though proved costly, as the Magpies snatched the lead in it, and held it until the break.
Bobby Hassell, starting in his favoured right back position for the first time since the 3-2 win at Derby in September, was totally muscled out of a 50-50 ball by Kevin Nolan and the former Bolton skipper slipped the ball past the onrushing Luke Steele into the corner of the net with just six minutes gone. At this point you couldn’t have blamed the Reds fans in Oakwell’s biggest attendance since the Chelsea game 21 months ago, from fearing the worst. Especially when two minutes later, Steele did well to deny Argentine international Jonas Gutierrez.
After this very shaky start though, The Reds began to compose themselves. The centre of midfield was still a problem, with Hugo Colace and Nathan Doyle looking like the worst partnership in the history of the game…. I would be prepared to go on record and label them as such, if it wasn’t for the second half turnaround. Any team would have to be at their best to combat a midfield that in Nicky Butt and Alan Smith, contained two players who between them have amassed just under 700 Premier League appearances and nine Premier League titles at Manchester United, so Doyle and Colace who, to be kind lets just say, haven’t been sparkling this season were always going to struggle, and they certainly did in the first 45minutes. Butt has maybe more honours and experience than anybody in the Championship and he was always appearing in space, whilst Doyle never seemed to move from the centre circle and Colace was an absolute disgrace to a red shirt with his timid tackles and general “la dee daa” attitude.
One other player under par- and for the whole game, was, probably surprisingly, Darren Moore. Captain, in the place of the injured Stephen Foster, he was dominated in the air for the first time in his Barnsley career! Andy Carroll- who is one player to have benefited from the Toon’s relegation was winning every header and Moore struggled massively to contain him the whole game. The fact Carroll wasn’t a threat in front of goal was down to the once again excellent Stoke pair of Carl Dickinson and Ryan Shotton. Today was the last home game of their current loan spell, with both players due back in the Potteries after the Boxing Day clash at Preston. We can only hope with all our heart, Mark Robins can get both back at Oakwell on longer deals in January, on loan if not permanently. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’ve NEVER seen a Barnsley player who can go into a challenge in which he isn’t favourite to win the ball, and come out with it WITHOUT needing to go to ground. Shotton does it superbly. It was credit to him, that Newcastle introduced two more strikers towards the end of the game.
The first half didn’t go all Newcastle’s way it has to be said as Barnsley forced a number of corners- indeed in the game Barnsley forced 11 corners to Newcastle’s miserly tally of two. From a Hallfredsson delivery after 23 minutes the ball skidded across the six yard box with Shotton and Daniel Bogdanovic somehow not managing to get a toe to it.
The second half though was a completely different kettle of fish as The Reds were out of the traps from the off! It took Newcastle six minutes of the first half to take the lead, and Barnsley matched it by levelling in the sixth minute of the second period. Anderson- who produced a master class once again, skipped away down the right and arrowed in a cross which Bogdanovic flicked across the six yard box where Hallfredsson came steaming in. Three Newcastle players on the line threw themselves at the ball, but the Icelander’s effort from so close was that powerful it rocketed in off the underside of the crossbar. Although Newcastle nearly re-took the lead straight from kick-off when Carroll’s lob beat Steele but just dropped the wrong side of the far post, this was Barnsley’s half. Shotton had a header cleared off the line by Jose Enrique, before Andy Gray wasted a great chance on 67 minutes.
Both Gray and Bogdanovic looked to be offside as Gray raced onto Doyle’s lob forward. The flag stayed down, but instead of squaring to the unmarked Bogdanovic, Gray went for goal and smashed his effort horribly wide. Hallfredsson hammered another effort narrowly wide before it looked like the Toon had grabbed their eighth straight win with a fine finish from Marlon Harewood 12 minutes from time.
Steve Harper sent a long punt downfield, and Harewood, who had only been on the pitch ten minutes reacted quickest to chip Steele.
In recent seasons, that would be the catalyst for Barnsley teams to give up…. Not under Robins. Barnsley are the division’s leading “stoppage time” scorers this season and they proved why again as they notched their fourth goal in the last five minutes of a game in the last three matches. After strikes in the 93rd minute against Cardiff and in the 85th and 88th minutes at Blackpool, Bobby Hassell snatched a point with three minutes remaining.
Substitute Adam Hammill swung in a fine corner and Hassell rose highest to power his header past Harper.
The club’s longest serving player, rather honestly, claimed “his” goal against Blackpool last week had gone in off Pool’s David Vaughan, but there was absolutely no doubt who had sent the headed rocket home this week.
After such a stunning second half performance, it could be said there was disappointment emitting from Reds fans as they left Oakwell that this hadn’t been a win… but then again under the Robins Revival we are becoming rather spoilt!
Player Ratings:
Luke Steele: Pulled off one good save from Gutierrez but apart from that was untroubled. Had no chance with the goals. 7
Carl Dickinson: Had a stormer. Courageous in the tackle and got forward whenever possible. 8
Darren Moore: His worst game of the season by far. Just couldn’t handle Carroll. 4
Ryan Shotton: Often playing as two men due to Moore’s troubles but he was exemplary again. His decision making and tackling is brilliant. Hopefully today isn’t the last the Oakwell faithful will see of him in a red shirt. 9
Bobby Hassell: Had a sluggish opening in which he allowed Nolan in for the first goal but redeemed himself out and popped up at the other end of the pitch to snatch a point. 7.5
Anderson De Silva: Has magic in his feet and at times, the Newcastle midfield couldn’t handle his skill. Totally overshadowed Gutierrez. 8
Hugo Colace: Had a woeful first half but was a different player after the break. Was quick into tackles and his passing was much better. Makes you believe even more that its his effort, not ability, that’s the problem. 7
Nathan Doyle: Another who was shocking in the first half- due mainly the fact he just stands in the centre circle! But improved massively after the break and was positive going forward. 7
Emil Hallfredsson: Simply outstanding! Totally ran the midfield. Covered every blade of grass and capped a wonderful performance with a goal. 9
Andy Gray: As Robins acknowledged- probably his best performance was the club. Worked very well as a target man and held the ball up nearly every time it came forward. Wastefully blazed a great chance over though. 7.5
Daniel Bogdanovic: Lively and would have scored if Gray had been more selfless. Lovely flick set Hallfredsson up for the first goal. 7
Substitutes:
Adam Hammill (for Anderson 84) Rather selfish at times, running straight into tackles, but delivered a fine corner for Hassell to head home. 6
Iain Hume (for Bogdanovic 90) No time to make an impact. N/A
Unused Substitutes:
David Preece, Rob Kozluk, Luke Potter, Jamal Campbell-Ryce, Jon Macken.
Sponsor’s Man of the Match: Daniel Bogdanovic
BarnsleyBoy's Man of the Match: Emil Hallfredsson: Its been a long time since I’ve seen a Barnsley midfielder dominate a game like he did.
NEWCASTLE UNITED: Harper, Coloccini, Enrique (Ranger 81), Nolan, R. Taylor, Smith, Gutierrez (Harewood 69), Pancrate (Khizanishvili), Butt, Carroll, S. Taylor.
Subs: Krul, Lovenkrands, Simpson, Ameobi.
Most Impressed by Newcastle’s: Andy Carroll: Bit of a dirty player and wasn’t really a goal threat, but nobody has dominated Darren Moore like he did.
Ref Watch: Graham Salisbury: A pretty decent game by the referee. His assistants let him down a couple of times on offside decisions but the man in the middle had a good game. 8
Coca Cola Championship Results Saturday 12th December 2009:
BARNSLEY 2-2 Newcastle
Coventry 3-2 Peterborough
Doncaster 1-0 Bristol City
Ipswich 3-1 Blackpool
Leicester 3-0 Sheffield Wednesday
Preston 2-0 Plymouth
Reading 1-1 Scunthorpe
Sheffield United 2-0 Crystal Palace
Swansea 0-1 Nottingham Forest
Watford 0-1 Derby
Barnsley lie in 16th place in the Coca-Cola Championship with 26 points from 20 games.
We are 6 points off the Play-Offs, 12 points off the Automatic Promotion Places, 20
points off First place and 8 points above the Relegation Zone.
Up to 12/12/09
Next Up:
On The Road:
Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Twenty One Crystal Palace v Barnsley Saturday 19th December 2009 Kick-Off 3pm
Tickets:
ADULTS - £24.50
SENIOR CITIZENS (OVER 60) - £14.50
FULL TIME STUDENT (UNDER 24) - £14.50
JUVENILES (UNDER 16) - £14.50
Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Twenty Two: Preston North End v Barnsley Saturday 26th December 2009 Kick-Off 3pm
Tickets:
Adults - £20.00
Senior Citizens (Over 60) - £12.00
Young Adults (Under 21) - £12.00
Juvenile (Under 16) - £5.00
Juvenile (Under 8) - Free
Family Ticket (One Adult and 2 U16s) - £25.00
Family Ticket (Two Adults and 2 U16s) - £45.00
Due to the predicted high demand for this fixture and subject to availability, tickets will go on sale in the following categories.
Saturday December 12 - 9.00am to 3.00pm and for 30 minutes after the final whistle
Existing season ticket holders only, on production of your season ticket book and special match voucher D (one ticket per season ticket maximum four books per person).
And
Non-season ticket holders on production of four stubs from different Barnsley FC away games this season.
Monday December 14 - 9.00am to 5.00pm
Subject to availability, any remaining tickets for this fixture will go on General Sale.
Official Reds on the Road coaches will be making the trip to Deepdale. Coaches will depart at 11.45am on the day of the game and the fare is £15.00.
Tickets will remain on sale, subject to availability, until 12 noon on Thursday December 24, 2009.
Ticket information and on sale dates / times correct at the time of publishing but are subject to change and/or amendment. Any amendments to these details will be published on www.barnsleyfc.co.uk at the earliest possible opportunity.
At Oakwell:
Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Twenty Three: Barnsley v Middlesbrough Monday 28th December 2009 Kick-Off: 3pm
East Stand and West Stand Upper Tiers
Adults £21.00
OAP/Juvenile £12.00
Juveniles (U12) £6.00
Family Area
Adults £21.00
OAP £12.00
Juvenile £12.00
Juveniles (U12) £6.00
East Stand Lower and West Stand Lower
Adults £20.00
OAP/Juveniles £11.00
Juveniles (U12) £5.00
CK Beckett Stand (Pontefract Road End)
Adults £19.00
OAP/Juveniles £11.00
Juveniles (U12) £5.00
All Disabled Areas £19.00
Helpers FREE OF CHARGE
Please note that Juvenile U12 tickets must be purchased in advance from the Oakwell Box Office and this price will not be on sale on the turnstiles under any circumstances.