‘Same old s***, evey week, same old s***, every week’
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| Welcome to ..... |
After upsetting the odds with some recent results, just what we needed: a team from the relegation zone at home. It had potential banana skin all over it, cos if there’s one thing we don’t like, it’s being favourites to win a game. But how would Blackburn turn up? Would they be the side who’d lost their last three 2-3, or would they learn from those games and shut up shop, a la Wigan t’other week? Fortunately, it was the former. They played an open game, clueless defensively, which could have resulted in us scoring half a dozen…but could have grabbed them a few as well.
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| Toby whips up the crowd. |
It’s all us early doors. Bradshaw skies a great opportunity from 10 yards. Scowen fails to get on the end of an open goal at the back post. A bad bounce prevents Bradshaw going clean through. Say what I like about Winnall, he wouldn’t have passed up all three. And sure enough, he bags number 10 for the season and costs me even more money (£50). Thankfully, I have conveniently forgotten my phone, so don’t have to put up with the endless messages I’ve no doubt received from fellow Reds wellwishers (but I DID have to put up with Slacki’s gleaming face at half time).
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| The teams come out. |
Actually, if I said ‘we’ was the players, that’d be about right. From 25 mins in, till half time, it was all Blackburn, with the occasional break by us. Scowen clears one off the line while Davies smothers a one-on-one and tips one round the post which was top corner all the way. We scrape in 1-0.
If Blackburn played an expansive game in the 1st half, it’s nothing to the second. From the off they set up like it was injury time, throwing way too many players forward and leaving one at the back. We break 2 on 1….only Hourihane overhits the pass and ruins the move. Next, we go 4 on 1. Only BFC can mess this up, and we do….Hourihane breaks to the right, receives the ball, then realises he has no right foot, so cuts inside. Does he pass to one of the other 3, or blaze it over the bar? You guess.
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| Blackburn banners |
At the other end, Davies is continuing the heroics, another one-on-one saved. He even manages to keep some of his kicks on the pitch, though one kick comes off MacDonald and straight into the path of Rover, on the halfway line, who puts his paw through the ball and sends it over Davies and onto the post. Another escape. If I can compare this game to any, it’s the Bradford promotion match; we are WAY better than them, yet continue to gift them the odd chance. And like Bradford, the luck goes with us.
Then we get the respite we’re looking for. One of their players goes straight through Morsy and gets a red. At least he’s picked one of our expendables: Morsy’s a Wigan player. Howthehell does he not get into a team who’re currently 2nd off bottom? I’ve no idea. Once Morsy’s stopped rolling around, he’s up for a fight (think Scrappy Do – ‘Lemme at him! Lemme at him!’ but Scowen steps in to drag him away and prevent the inevitable. On seeing the tackle again on TV, it really was a legbreaker and lucky for Morsy his leg wasn’t planted in the ground. A shocker.
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| The Rovers' end. Boooo, hisssss...etc |
*** Scowen. Up and down, side to side, tackle after tackle, sprint after sprint. What a player. My favourite Scowen moment was when he gave them the ball before proceeding to win it back, beat 2 of them, then get dragged down as he ran into acres of space down the left. Was also one of the many options Hourihane had when he decided to cut inside onto his left and clear the bar from 10 yards. Twitter MOTM.** Davies. Some great saves, mingled with the usual inability to catch a ball under pressure and 2 or 3 punches, some which worked better than others. But his saves were top drawer: 1st half top corner, as well as smothered a 1 on 1. 2nd half, saved another 1 on 1, though got lucky with the miskick.* Bree. I’m liking Bree more and more. Continues to improve as a defender, but pops up in attack and creates chances (and goals!). This week it’s Marley’s opportunity to benefit.
Londontykes' MOTM
*** Davies
** Yiadom
* Scowen
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| The Ponty v Blackburn |
Despatches:More omens broken. Apparently we hadn’t won in 6 Boxing Day games, nor beaten Blackburn in half a dozen. Keep it up Barnsley. Today was an exciting game, which should have been about 8-3 had we taken our chances to break. Perhaps we needed Rovers to score to become more clinical ourselves (a la Cardiff last week). Driving up north, I also got to listen to a fair portion of ‘Praise or grumble’ on Radio S***field. At one point there were 3 callers in a row talking about BFC and someone even texted in to moan that the show lacked variation. Ha! Made a change from listening to Washday fans who weren’t at the game telling us how badly they’d played and which continental superstar they should sign. I also still had a signal north of Leeds, which surprised me.
The players? They were great. What can I say? Perhaps Bradshaw tired as the game went on and should have been subbed earlier. Perhaps we didn’t take our chances. But we can’t complain. Everything positive I’ve said previously about our players individually goes for this game as well. But one thing I did notice…and possibly a reason we score and concede so many….was that Roberts was in their box at least twice during OPEN PLAY. I love our style of play though. Long may it continue (till we lose a couple and everyone moans about our defensive naivety)
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| SSW points at the bloke betting against him getting 10 this season (me). |
Will Winnall get 10? F***ing f*** f***. What a player. Always said so. His movement has been magnificient this season, his all round play has improved (though is far from perfect) and he has so many creative players to feed off. Not bad for our 3rd or 4th best centre forward. Getting into double figures before the end of the year is a great achievement (‘the first Barnsley player in 3 years’ said George wotshisface on Channel 5), which either proves the national media know nowt, or last season’s 24 goals really were a bad dream from which I’m owed my money back from certain bets. I’m a bit surprised by George, actually, cos he allegedly supports a team from just down the road (Dirty L**ds) who’ve previously been linked with the goalscoring machine. Actually, having read that sentence again, perhaps I’m not surprised at all.
Onwards and upwards!
Drink du jour: Diet coke. Christ. Never go in Redfearns.* 10 minutes of waiting in the cold only to be followed by Loko’s interpretation of a mannequin behind the bar. As I’m driving today, I can’t take up the offer of a pint. ‘Can I have a coke?’ No. Diet coke only. They’ve ran out of the drinkable stuff. I wouldn’t mind, but coke keeps for MONTHS. Still, extra marks to Hicksy, who came out for a breather while I was in the queue and we exchanged the merchandise** for cold hard cash.
* only (half) kidding, before I get lynched by the Redfearns’ crew. A convivial atmosphere and quickly served, if not by one of the Holy Trinity (Hicksy, Loko, Gally).
** Forest away tickets
Away: 1440. They didn’t sound happy from what I could hear. They hate their manager, they hate their owners, they hate their team. Not sure in what order though. Good to see they’ve lifted the anti-climb netting from near the tunnel, so we could go back to the good old days of seeing irate away fans trying to get a piece of their defeated team at full time.
The Damage:
3 prog
1 diet coke
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| Always a positive sign: a queue at Oakwell. |
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| Redfearns, pre-match. |
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| BFC permits the disabled ??? Good to know. |
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| There's no going back now. |
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| It's a beautiful day! |
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| Players' pre-match kickabout (yes, I was in early). |
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