Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Twenty Seven: Barnsley 0-1 Southampton

It was the same old story again at Oakwell. Glorious opportunities spurned, opponents get one chance and take, points thrown away.

For me, on the season's evidence and despite the result, on today's evidence Southampton are the worst side in the Championship- a team packed with Academy products with only a sprinkling of talent most notably Andrew Surman, Lee Holmes and Kelvin Davis and today they came simply for a point and with the look of their long range wayward shots and passes, they were delighted with a 0-0. Hardly surprising for a team who had lost five of their previous seven games, conceding 15 goals in the process.

The only reason why they picked up their first victory in 10, and only their sixth of the season is because of the sheer lack of a clinical touch in this Barnsley side.

In recent years Barnsley have not been renowned for their strikers- even when winning promotion to the Championship in 2006 they were the second lowest scorers of the top six and since Michael Chopra hit 17 goals in 2004-2005, The Reds have not had a prolific striker. Why oh why hasn't it been sorted?

Since Simon Davey arrived in the winter of 2006, he has improved the goal-keeping, defence and midfield departments and improved them considerably. The one area he is faltering in is attack. The current four in the squad today are clearly not up to it. Jon Macken and Jamie Cureton have had their moments, but sparingly whilst the rest of the nations must not have turned up for the Under 21 tournament in 2007 when Maceo Rigters was top-scorer- either that or they didn't field goalkeepers.

Even so, a goal-keeper wasn't required when Rigters hit a contender for Miss of the Season wide in the first half.

If the game today had been a boxing match it would have been ended long before David McGoldrick pounced for Southampton's winner 14 minutes from time, but in football the only way you win is by putting the ball in the back of the net. Unfortunately despite some gift-wrapped opportunities Barnsley failed to do it.

The malaise started as early as the second minute when the otherwise woeful Mounir El Haimour's shot hit Cureton and set him up nicely but instead of breaking the net, he scooped his effort over.

On 20 minutes, Macken turned well on the edge of the area but his swivel and shot flew inches too high.

The most Southampton mustered in the one-way first half an hour were long range drives from Bradley Wright-Phillips and McGoldrick which were comfortably dealt with by Heinz Muller.

On 31 minutes the opening goal should have finally arrived for the Reds. Cureton's shot was deflected perfectly into the path of Rigters six yards out but somehow with the whole goal gaping, he dinked the ball over the advancing Davis but amazingly wide of the post. Rigters should have smashed it and made no doubt of the outcome.

Right on half-time, Cureton finally broke Southampton's offside trap but was denied by Davis before Muller was finally called into serious action to deny Holmes.

If the first half was one way traffic, the second half was a one-way stampede as The Reds camped on the edge of the Southampton area. To emphasise the point, whenever Southampton had a corner they left FOUR men back but when Barnsley had one, they had ALL their players in the area to defend.

A great corner from Jamal Campbell-Ryce on 54 minutes was met superbly by Dennis Souza, but Davis who was crowded out by his own team-mates, saw the ball at the very last second and managed to flick out his right arm to tip it over the bar. Macken headed weakly at Davis before a combination of the crossbar and Lloyd James kept the score line level. Again Souza met Campbell-Ryce's corner with a looping header which James, on the line managed to just nod onto the post.

On 75 minutes Davis came to the rescue again with a simply outstanding save which left many to think it would not be Barnsley's day. Macken sent in a great low curling cross from the right which whipped around the Southampton defence, and Cureton nipped in behind to apply the finish at the back post, but despite Cureton hitting it perfectly, Davis somehow clawed the ball away.

A minute it later, everybody knew it wouldn't be The Reds day when Southampton took the lead. Before this the ONLY thing they had mustered were long range efforts from Marek Saganowski and Holmes which had sailed well, well wide.

Southampton won a corner which Morgan Schneiderlin swung in, Darren Moore's header was poor and everybody stood off as Holmes swung the ball back in and McGoldrick had a free header which he planted past Muller.

A real killer blow and totally underserved, but you would be hard pressed to find a Barnsley fan in the 11,789 crowd who would have been surprised it had happened.

This goal seemed to invigorate Southampton and Barnsley began to panic. Holmes was inches away from making it 2-0 with ten minutes remaining but then Davey and Oakwell was left fuming with three minutes to go as substitute Kayode Odejayi was clearly hauled down right in front of the goal, but referee Tony Bates- who was poor for both sides gave nothing! A shocking decision, as even Odejayi wouldn't have decided to go down without being fouled that close to the goal. Muller came up for a corner in the final minute, and got his head to the ball but it was too easy for Davis to gather.

The penalty decision summed up Barnsley's day, Barnsley's season and Barnsley's recent history. Without a striker who can do the simple things- like score sitters, it could be a long 2009. It would be all too easy to blame the fact that three of The Reds most inventive midfielders- Diego Leon, Hugo Colace and Anderson De Silva were all missing, but the midfield was not the problem today, with Bobby Hassell again putting in a Man of the Match performance in the holding role. We all know where the problem lies, it's fixing it that is proving the real difficulty.

Player Ratings:

Heinz Muller: Had very little to do but did produce a good stop to deny Lee Holmes in first half stoppage time. It's not his fault his clean sheet record is poor. Almost made himself a hero at the death when he came up for a corner but his weak header was easy for Davis. 7

Marciano Van Homoet: Looked more comfortable attacking than defending as usual but got up well to support Campbell-Ryce. 6

Darren Moore: I'm amazed that at the age of 34 and after spending three and a half years in the Premier League he cannot actually kick a football properly, but he was a calming influence in defence, won everything in the air and also caused problems at set-pieces. 7

Dennis Souza: Twice came close to a goal and was again magnificent in defence. 8

Stephen Foster: Tried everything to help get a goal. Sent in a stream of crosses, spent most of the second half in the Southampton half and even ended the game up-front. It just wouldn't come off for him. 7

Bobby Hassell: He claims he doesn't like playing in midfield but he's going to make it hard for Colace to win back his place again. Did not put a foot wrong today. Tackles were spot on, his passing was wonderful and not something you'd expect from a defensive player. He produced a flick with one leg behind his other leg that bamboozled two Southampton players and even a terrible shot turned into a great pass to Moore! 9

Mounir El Haimour: I'm actually really sorry I missed all The Reds pre-season games because from what I've heard that's the only time El Haimour looked good. He has the look of a doctor rather than a footballer and maybe he should be one. He cant tackle, cant pass and certainly cant shoot judging by his awful effort in the first half. Yet he remained on the pitch being more a nuisance to his team-mates than the opposition for 65 minutes. Subbed. 3

Jamal Campbell-Ryce: Was extremely quiet in the first half but came to life after the break. Southampton couldn't handle him but he just couldn't produce that moment of magic. 7.5

Maceo Rigters: You simply cannot miss the type of chance he did in the first half. It was gift-wrapped and gilt-edged. Still he did more than Macken or Cureton yet was the only one of the trio to be subbed. Subbed. 7

Jon Macken: Same as usual. Started brightly, worked hard, then faded after an hour and never looked like scoring. 5

Jamie Cureton: Two in two games previously and he should have doubled that today. Missed one great chance after two minutes and then was somehow denied by Davis a minute before Southampton scored. 6

Substitutes:

Jacob Butterfield (for El Haimour 65): Always seems to be on the fridges of the team and the injury crisis in midfield got him his chance today. He changed the game. The Reds looked more purposeful with him on the ball and he certainly has talent. If neither Leon, Anderson or Colace are back next weekend he should certainly start in front of El Haimour. 7

Kayode Odejayi (for Rigters 77). Gave The Reds some much needed height upfront and should have been awarded a clear penalty at the end. 7

Unused Substitutes:

Luke Steele, Luke Potter, Simon Heslop.

Sponsor's Man of the Match: Bobby Hassell

BarnsleyBoy's Man of the Match: Bobby Hassell: Agree with the sponsors this week. Was head and shoulders above everybody else. Not bad for a right back playing in central midfield.

Southampton: Davis ,Perry ,Saganowski (Wotton ,81 ) ,Saeijs ,Molyneux ,Holmes ,Schneiderlin ,James ,Surman ,McGoldrick ,Wright-Phillips

Man of the Match: Bobby Hassell