So, tis the end of an(other) era. Farewell Keith - and Good Luck.
Of course, if yer gonna get sacked, best to go out with a whimper. Losing at home to a side who've lost 5 in 6, are completely rudderless and the subject of a radio 5 phone-in - Is there a bigger laughing stock in football at the moment than Blackburn Rovers? (Insert club of your choice who play at Oakwell HERE).
And so it was that we found out exactly whose fault the Boxing Day Brum defeat was: Dagnall, Stones and Sir Bobby of Hassell. Replaced by Davies (hapless), Foster (hopeless) and Wiseman (hilarious). Sounds like a modern day re-working of the 7 dwarves, but without the laughs. Oh, and Done in for Greening. Clueless.
0-1: a ball over the top sees Foster actually RUN AWAY from his man to mark someone else. Said bloke cannot believe he's been given a free run at goal and runs in, shoots, Steele saves the one-on-one, it comes back to him...hits him?...and dribbles towards goal where Golbourne doesn't even consider using his right foot to clear it off the line and it crawls in. Christ on a bike.
0-2: O'Brien chases back 30 yards to make a great challenge on the halfway line. Sadly, he then gets done (small 'd') and is left the wrong side, as their bloke strolls out with the ball. Ball gets played out to their left wing where, somehow, their bloke only has Wiseman to beat. Without even a shimmy, he leaves Wiseman for dead then drives a shot straight through Steele on the near post. Appalling. But it does give what, in hindsight, was Keith Hill's death rattle - Wiseman being booed every time he touched the ball. I wish the half could have gone on for longer, cos I was starting to enjoy that.
Half time comes and he takes Wiseman (and Done) off. And if I read it right, the reason why he dropped Stones for Wiseman in the first place was 'to take Stones out of the firing line'. Ho bloody ho. Are we Reds fans REALLY famous for hammering our homegrown stars with ability who are actually trying to DO SOMETHING? Don't answer that.
Anyone who wasn't there already knows the tale of our season by now - we've played relatively well, controlled the game, and find ourselves losing. But I'm hopeful - despite not scoring 2 goals in a home game ALL SEASON, I tell my dad we'll score 3 in a half to record a famous victory. OUR SEASON STARTS HERE. Well, I was half right!
Despite not creating owt, 2nd half, we pull one back when Redfear...sorry, Dawson, drives past a couple of players and into the box and then hammers a left footer into the top right hand corner from just inside the box. Fans cheer but there's no conviction. Were they worried the comeback was ON and Keith Hill would remain IN? Unfortunately, the comeback is probably over once Tudgay goes in for a header and crashes into the keeper. He's completely laid out and the ensuing delay brings 9 minutes of proper 'injury' time. Presuming it's the end of his stay at Oakwell, and I DO hope he's recovered, but I couldn't help but think 'excellent, perhaps we can get him off our wage bill now as well, bloody waste of space'. And this was one of his GOOD games!
We continue to take the game to Rovers, but are stretched, what with having only ten men and all (hang on - haven't we played with 10 men the entire time Tudgay's been here???). Consequently, we all get to see who you DON'T want to see try to defend against Jordan Rhodes, one-on-one, despite being at the ball 1st. Why, it's Super Jim McNulty! That bloke who used to be a defender for us, but this season has collapsed into a wallowing mass of panicky jelly, with delusions of Beckenbaueresque grandeur. Ball bounces awkwardly, McNulty heads ball up in air, cedes possession to Rhodes (use your STRENGTH for chrissakes and stop s***ing yourself!!!!) who knocks it past him and fires home.
*** Dawson. There is only one player on the park. So it goes without saying he doesn't get MOTM.
** O'Brien. Constant endeavour from central-mid. Sponsors MOTM.
* Stones. Can't be hard to look good tho when you're replacing Scott Wiseman.
Despatches:
Noble-Lazarus came on and looked dangerous (until he shot - 2 high wide and not very handsome) and Sinclair looked alright. Or are these things relative?
Aside from the booing of Wiseman, my other Favourite Thing was when McNulty strolled forward with the ball, looked left, looked right, looked ahead, then got tackled and jumped up berating anyone and everyone while they counter-attacked. Dangerous Brian O'Callaghan's entire BFC career probably only involved being done like this 3 times, yet McNulty loses it EVERY match in this way, at least once.
Bottom of the table, there is only one way to go now - ONWARDS AND UPWARDS! Discussion on the train (drink du jour: Smirnoff vodka and coca-cola - the real thing) included me wondering when, or if, Barnsley FC have EVER finished bottom of the table before . Certainly not in my lifetime! A text from Official Barnsley Trainspotter P. Waddington comes up with the answer: 1963/64 or summat. Could this be the 1st Reds side in nearly 50 years to come rock bottom? We're already on our longest run of home games without a win since 1952-53 (thanks to the Chronicle for that). Still, there is hope. If Roy Castle is right, and if we want to beat any records, then 'dedication's what you need'. Another thing we don't have.
Keith Hill, R.I.P.
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