There’s a famous adage in football:
" You Never Win Anything With Kids"
The Reds disastrously found that out at Vale Park as the "Barnsley Babes" were ruthlessly torn apart.
This defeat may also have put a serious dent in Andy Ritchie’s chances of landing the manager’s job on a full time basis. To be fair to Ritchie he had been forced to chuck the kids in at the deep end due to the continuing injury and illness crisis gripping Oakwell.
The Reds were without the services of Michael Chopra, Daniel Nardiello and Bobby Hassell (three crucial players) for the game so Nathan Jarman made his first start up front alongside Simon Johnson and Paul Reid and Antony Kay paired up at the back. Hardly the most imposing partnerships I know.
To be fair though Port Vale’s first two goals were crackers and even Petr Cech would have had trouble stopping them never mind Scott Flinders, but with the Reds failing to muster anything worthy of an attack in the first half you knew the writing was on the wall.
Paul Reid went off at half-time (presumably injured) and Neil Austin came on in his place going to right back with Dale Tonge switching inside to partner the once again poor Kay. Recipe for disaster.
Port Vale’s third was due to a mistake by Austin, the fourth down to Kay failing to even go for the ball when it was easily within reach, the fifth a thunderbolt freekick after the referee had moved the ball forward 10 yards due to dissent.
It could have been more Flinders producing an excellent save and Paynter denied his hat trick by the post.
5-0 drubbing? Not bad for £23 hey.
If the first team had being fit it would most probably have being a different story, but the journey home was still a long one.
At least there’s only 2 games left….
Scott Flinders: Had no chance with the first two goals and pulled off an excellent save second half. 6
Dale Tonge: Torn apart down the right, even worse in the centre. 5
Antony Kay: Want has happened to last seasons Player of the Year? Gets worse every game: 4
Paul Reid: Made some crunching tackles early on but was having to work overtime to marshal the defense. Didn’t reappear after the break. Subbed
Robbie Williams: The only Reds defender who dared to go forward. 5
Chris Shuker: You could see this defeat hurt him, he tried his hardest but couldn’t make an impact. 6
Stephen McPhail: Went missing again. This was obviously not a game he relished. 4
Jacob Burns: Scooped Barnsley’s only real chance over the bar from 3 yards. He did a lot of running but was mostly chasing shadows. 6
Nicky Wroe: Always wanted the ball and did actually give his all for the cause but like his team-mate was stuck in his own half for most of the match. 6
Simon Johnson: Starved of service, and couldn’t make an impact. Subbed. 5
Nathan Jarman: Exactly the same as Johnson, had no service and had to run deep to find the ball. 5
Subs: Neil Austin ( for Reid) 45. As usual flung himself into tackles but was bombarded down his flank. His mistake presented the 3rd goal. 5
Nathan Joynes ( for Johnson 65) Came to partner his good buddy Jarman, but only lasted 20 minutes before also going off injured, Ritchie must have run over a truck load of black cats. Subbed. 5
Rob Atkinson ( for Joynes 85) Replaced the injured Joynes and even though a defender went upfront to add some height. 5