Barnsley 0-1 Burnley, Tuesday 8th April 2014

‘At least we’ve got work tomorra’

The away end fills up...

It comes to something when your mate tries to cheer you up with the above when you leave the ground.  4 home games without a goal.  A run in which I can only remember us missing one chance (M’Voto’s header, last game).  At least we had an excuse for our zero shots on goal this week: Burnley are actually a good side.  But, really, it’s the form of a team about to be relegated.  Which we are. 

...and some more

I made the effort to come up, midweek, partly out of optimism.  I fancied us.  Burnley might be near the top but they possibly had both star forwards out (turned out to be one) and no Trippier (on the bench, back from injury).  Obviously, any such optimism was killed as soon as Hicksy showed me the team in the pub: Mellis and Woods back, Lawrence (tired?) and Etuhu (suspended) out.

And for the first four minutes, we were camped in their half (note: the bit between their box and the halfway line).  Then they ripped us to pieces 3 times in a little over a minute, doing that cheeky thing opposition teams do, where they pass and move quickly while we stand watching them.  And after six and a half minutes, from such an attack, they scored the only goal of the game.

Everyone in who wants in.

A cross came in from their left and BANG! a great header from Burnley’s 3^rd choice centre forward.  This has peeved me for years with Barnsley FC forwards, but why do we stand behind defenders, presumably hoping their fellow professional footballers will completely miss the ball….while ‘proper’ centre forwards take a risk, RUN IN FRONT of defenders and hope the ball goes there?  And if it does – GOAL.  99.9% of Lineker’s goals came this way, and he wasn’t a bad goalscorer.  And Ashley Barnes’ (who?) goal for Burnley wasn’t bad either – leaving Nyatanga for dead.  The header itself was a blinder, but the power of the cross made it.  (Ok, another problem at Oakwell, our ‘crosses’ are neat little dinks into the box from Tom ‘TK’ Kennedy).

ps, for the younger kids, (Loko), Lineker wasn’t always some cheesy presenter on Match of the Day.  He used to be England’s centre forward in the late 80s, early 90s and alongside Ian Rush (look him up) was problies the finest (British) finisher of his day.

And there it was, game over with 83 minutes to play.  Burnley continued to play us off the park in the 1^st half, but couldn’t find that killer pass.  WE resorted to ‘hoof ball’ (as Salisbury called it).  While the midfield couldn’t be trusted to hold onto the ball for more than a couple of touches, the defence decided launching it long to a lone forward (O’Grady) up against a bigger defender (Shackell) and the rest of Burnley’s defence was the answer.  It wasn’t.  Still, while the ball was up in the air, we weren’t conceding. Obviously, those ‘Sheffield United years’ have done the world of good for Danny’s version of total football.

In summary: we were s*** and outclassed, but thank god Burnley were happy to just get one.

Sponsors MOTM: O’Grady.  No idea.

*** McLoughlin.  He reminds me of Shotton, when he was here on loan, ie, too good for us. Fast, drives forward…and prepared to tell his more experienced teammates what to do, where to go.  Shame they can’t (or won’t) follow instructions.
** M’Voto.  Won plenty of headers and showed he can kick a ball 50 yards with the best of them.
* Kennedy.  The worse we are, the better he looks.  There’s a correlation there somewhere.

Despatches:
Can’t blame Mellis, everyone else was as outclassed as him, but I did enjoy his comedy booking, as he lost control of the ball then attempted to win it back with a silly tackle. Does he EVER learn?  Taken off for Reuben, who couldn’t repeat his majesty of Yeovil and Reading.  And does Jennings need a rest?  Looked it, as time and again he’d misplace his passes.

So, that’s it, we’re down.  Charlton beating Yeovil is the proverbial nail, and not being religious, I simply cannot see a miracle happening.

No real adventures on the train this week…..the 22:43 from Donny being empty.  However, Salisbury at least got a taste of ‘Marshall Time’ as we made it to the platform at 22:42! There was tension in the car, as my dad trundled towards Donny, yet found the time to go around Stairfoot roundabout twice.  ‘We’re not gonna make it’ he kept telling us.  ‘What’s Plan B?’  ‘Plan B???  ‘Plan B is for YOU to overtake that car!’  He never did.  I’m still not sure what Plan B woulda been, but I’m sure Salisbury would not have been amused, whatever it was.  Phew!

Drink du jour: red red wine.

Away: about 4000, but the announcer never said.  They looked like they enjoyed themselves, anyway.  ‘They’ll not last long in the Premiership’ said one disgruntled, bitter fan behind me.  Good luck to ‘em – at least they haven’t bought their way there like Leicester, Cardiff, QPR et al recently.

Fair play...best team won.

Onwards and downwards