They say you get a clear indication of how teams are going to fare after the first 10 games. Well today was the 10th game, and Barnsley sit in 15th place…. Sounds about right doesn’t it? To be fair if The Reds were to finish in that position it would be their highest placed finish at this level in 11 years, but after four years of struggle it would hardly be the significant progress manager Mark Robins talked about in the summer. A wretched record on the road, which now stretches to 12 winless games had been countered by a fantastic start at home which had yielded three wins and a draw. Well that little run was brought to an abrupt end this afternoon by a Cardiff City side, who with the quality they have in their ranks, surely wont blow promotion for a third season running. A lot of criticism is levelled at the Bluebirds, about how they can manage to acquire international stars such as Craig Bellamy, Andy Keogh and Jason Koumas when they are millions of pounds in debt and fighting countless winding up orders. What can not be disputed however is that, on paper, they have by far the strongest squad in the division and they gained their sixth win of the season with a score-line that probably flattered Barnsley rather than the visitors. The first half was a nothing sort of game in terms of chances created but Cardiff were running the midfield. Diego Arismendi had his worst game for the club so far, but, surprisingly, Hugo Colace had arguably his best. That does not account for another shock omission for Jacob Butterfield. Once again the 20 year old was dropped after impressing in the prior game and it was an absolute disgrace that Mark Robins waited until the 89th minute (yes that’s the EIGHTY NINTH minute) before bringing him on for Arismendi. Just a little statistic for you all- Jacob Butterfield has started three league games this season and Barnsley have not lost any of them but have lost six of the seven he has started on the bench . The wings though were very poor. I’m not entirely sure how good the standard of football is in the Scottish Premier League, but if Jim O’Brien can get in their Team of the Year it cannot be very good. He had a half decent game at Scunthorpe on Tuesday night, but that really seems a flash in the pan. Today his distribution was poor, his touch lousy and it seems opposition players only have to breath on him and he’s on the deck. Nobody can doubt his passion, but he seems to be struggling massively with the demands of English football. Often this season the Reds have been able to turn to the opposite wing for moments of inspiration, but today Cardiff got their tactics on Adam Hammill spot on. They doubled up on him whenever he received the ball- which wasn’t often, and he was just forced into blind alleys. The 22 year old did escape his shackles once with eight minutes remaining when his curling effort from 25 yards was well saved by City keeper Tom Heaton but unfortunately his most telling contributions to the game were being involved in an off the ball incident with Bellamy and then exacting revenge by scything down Chris Burke- who had remonstrated with a prone Hammill- to pick up his third yellow card of the season. He nearly has as many yellows as goals now. It certainly seems a long time since the 5-2 thumping of Leeds, and you do wonder what has gone wrong to see The Reds lose two and draw two since, scoring just twice. On Tuesday night, the team selection was heavily criticised, especially the forward “pairing” of Andy Gray and Goran Lovre. Well today Robins went back to Garry O’Connor and Chris Wood, but both loanees were largely ineffective. Wood did have one great chance five minutes before the break. O’Brien fed him just inside the area but the New Zealand international fired the ball wastefully over the bar. Today was the last game of O’Connor’s initial loan and despite impressing and scoring on his debut against Leeds, he has hardly justified remaining at Oakwell since. Barnsley would pay for Wood’s missed chance just two minutes later when Cardiff took the lead and the goal-scorer was inevitable. Craig Bellamy had outshone his more expensive team-mates such as Emmanuel Adebayor and Robinho when he came down for a friendly with Manchester City last summer and on his first competitive appearance at Oakwell since come off the bench for Norwich in a 2-1 Barnsley win back in April 2000 he notched his second goal in only his third start for his hometown team. A lovely move started with Jay Bothroyd spraying a cross field ball to Peter Whittingham and he rolled the ball back to Bellamy to curl a beautiful effort past Luke Steele and into the far corner. For the third home game in a row, Barnsley had gone 1-0 down. The Reds were even more sluggish in their approach play at the start of the second half and were lucky not to be further behind when Bothroyd turned home Bellamy’s corner but the linesman flagged for offside. Amazingly though it was Barnsley who struck next, equalising with their first shot on target after 63 minutes. O’Brien’s corner ricocheted around the Cardiff area with both O’Connor and Arismendi having fruitless stabs at the ball, before it finally broke to captain Jason Shackell and the centre half showed how it was done by firing an effort across Heaton and into the far corner. It was a goal that nobody in the ground had seemed coming and probably even shocked the Reds players because within seconds they handed Cardiff a way back in front… literally. Whittingham swung in a corner and as Foster jumped for the ball his hand was flaying in the air and there was no doubt in referee Trevor Kettle’s mind as he pointed to the spot. It looked a foregone conclusion as Whittingham- with two goals in his last five games vs. Barnsley came up against Luke Steele who had never saved a penalty for Barnsley but the much maligned keeper did brilliantly, sticking out his right leg to deflect the ball over the bar as Whittingham went to place it down the middle. Unfortunately the respite did not last long. The Reds failed to deal with the subsequent corner, conceding another and from this Bellamy set-piece Whittingham flicked the ball on for Seyi This goal though seemed to breathe life into the Reds ranks although Cardiff were inches away from putting the game to bed when Olofinjana’s header from another excellent Whittingham corner came back off the post. Only Foster will know how he managed to head over a superb cross from Jay McEveley from just six yards out. Cardiff were forced to play the final 10 minutes with ten men after Darcy Blake was shown his second yellow card of the afternoon but apart from two efforts from Hammill that warmed Heaton’s palms, the Bluebirds held firm to stretch their recent impressive record against the Reds to just two defeats from the past 10 meetings. Unfortunately this time there was no Carl Dickinson to smash in a last minute winner. Player Ratings: Luke Steele – Made a wonderful penalty stop from Whittingham but had no chance with either goal. 7 Kieran Trippier – Finally brought back into the starting line-up after a four game absence and once again impressed. Seemed comfortable dealing with Whittingham’s runs. 7 Jay McEveley - Is now starting to show some real form and showed no ill effects from the foot injury suffered against Reading. His excellent cross should have been turned in by Foster. 7 Jim O’Brien - Maybe time the Scotsman had a spell out of the team as he has been largely ineffective. Looks too lightweight for this league. 5 Hugo Colace - I’m one of his biggest critics, but the Argentine did well today. Produced some good tackles and some neat play. The Red’s best midfielder this afternoon. 7.5 Diego Arismendi – His worst game so far. Didn’t find a red shirt all afternoon and was totally dominated by Olofinjana. 4 Chris Wood - Unfair to judge after two and a half games but he rarely looked like grabbing his first goal today. Blazed one good chance over in the first half and that’s as close as he got. 5 Garry O’Connor - The last game of his initial loan spell from Birmingham and he finishes with a record of one goal from four starts. Impressive on his debut against Leeds, but then again everybody shone that night. Has done little since. Manages to hold the ball up well but doesn’t get in the area enough. 6 Substitutions: Jacob Butterfield (for Arismendi 89) What a waste! The best ball playing midfielder at the club, dropped to the bench and brought on with a minute to go. This change was crying out to be made from about the half hour mark. What does Butterfield have to do to stay in the team?! N/A Unused: David Preece, Nathan Doyle, Luke Potter, Jeronimo Neumann, Goran Lovre. Sponsor’s Man of the Match: Hugo Colace. BarnsleyBoy's Men of the Match: Jason Shackell & Hugo Colace: Shackell was again excellent at the back and popped up with a fine goal at the other end whilst Colace shone for a change! I cant let that moment go unnoticed. CARDIFF CITY: Heaton, McNaughton, Naylor, Blake, Hudson, Gyepes, Olofinjana, Bothroyd, Whittingham, Burke, Bellamy. Npower Championship results Saturday 2nd October 2010: BARNSLEY 1-2 Cardiff Bristol City 0-3 Norwich Crystal Palace 1-2 QPR Doncaster 1-1 Nottingham Forest Hull 0-0 Coventry Ipswich 2-1 Leeds Leicester 3-1 Scunthorpe Middlesbrough 2-2 Portsmouth Millwall 1-1 Burnley Preston 1-1 Reading Sheffield United 0-1 Watford Swansea 0-0 Derby Barnsley lie in 15th place in the Npower Championship with 12 points from 10 games. We are 4 points off the Play-Offs, 8 points off the Automatic Promotion Places, 14 points off First place and 4 points above the Relegation Zone. Next Up: At Oakwell: Tickets: Adults - £25.00 On The Road: Npower Championship Matchday Twelve: Burnley v Barnsley Tuesday 19th October 2010 Kick Off 7:45pm.
Stephen Foster – Defensively sound and kept Bothroyd quiet. Only he will know how he missed a great headed chance late in the game though. 7
Jason Shackell – A very smart finish to bring Barnsley level and was never beaten in the air. 7.5
Adam Hammill – Was marshalled superbly by the Cardiff midfield. Did manage to escape in the final minutes but then found Heaton in his way. 6
Andy Gray (for Wood 57) Not really the man you want when your searching for goals. Couldn’t get into the game. If only we had a little Canadian whose hit two goals in three games to bring on…. 5
Subs: Marshall, Quinn, McPhail, Rae, Koumas, Keogh, Wildig.
Most Impressed by Cardiff’s: Seyi Olofinjana: Was one of the best midfielders in the Championship whilst at Wolves in 2007-2008 and it seems nothings changed/ Strong and an eye for goal. He played Arismendi out of the game.
Ref Watch: Trevor Kettle: Not a popular man around this parts after his controversial handling of the 3-3 draw with Stoke on Boxing Day 2007. Despite again some odd decisions he wasn’t the worst ref Iv seen this season. 6
Up to 2.10.10
Npower Championship Matchday Eleven: Barnsley v Nottingham Forest Saturday 16th October 2010 Kick-Off 3pm
Senior Citizens (Over 60) - £13.00
Juveniles (Under 18) - £13.00
Juveniles (Under 12) - £7.00
Tickets:
Adults - £26.00
Senior Citizens (Over 65) - £15.00
Young Adult (Under 19) - £15.00
Students (With Valid NUS) - £15.00
Juveniles (Under 16) - £12.00
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