‘The worst 6 teams I’ve seen this season are Barnsley’
On such small details do entire season’s cling….It is the 82nd minute. Barnsley are leading fellow relegation rivals Bolton Wanderers 1-0. Not a comfortable lead, by any means, but there’s a sense we’ve seen off the worst of it and are looking good for the win. OK, the Trotters may have a corner, but we’ve seen off all their other ones, so why worry? The ball comes over, it’s headed on, but before anyone gets to it, the ref has blown. ‘Oh, that’s alright then’ I think, as I can only presume he’s given us a free kick. But no! It’s a penalty to Bolton. I have no idea where the ref’s got that one from, but I can only presume (again) that he has a much better view, and wouldn’t give anything if less than certain. Le Fondre bangs the ball down the middle while Davies dives left.
I have since seen the ‘penalty’ 5 times on television (make that 10; I’ve just watched it 5 more times on youtube). I don’t see anything in it. Their player falls down, to be sure, but I don’t see what Moncur, or anyone else, has done to him. If it’s Moncur, it must be the ‘hand of God’. Certainly, the omnipotent one wasn’t doing us any favours. Of course, I wouldn’t mind if it was a level playing field (not literally, I like the slight slope at Oakwell) but the ref has already ignored a blatant penalty for us at 1-0 when Kiefer Moore, favourite to get to a front post cross, is completely barged over and misses it. I honestly don’t know how the ref saw that any other way, but I can accept it. What is difficult to accept is giving Bolton a softer one. And I’m only talking about two decisions; the other Londontykes can list an armful of inept ‘decisions’ (and did, on the journey home).
Moore had earlier been booked (presumably for ‘persistent misconduct’). Well, it was back to the good old days, as a big, bad centre forward took on a big bad centre half, and the ref gave a free kick pretty much everytime the ball reached them, tossing a coin before deciding which way he’d give it. Clueless. As for how McBurnie’s shirt stayed on his torso…let’s just say they’re well made, given the amount of pulling of it which went on (unnoticed). Mind, the ref also missed a sly elbow in the face from McBurnie (revenge for vice versa) so it’s fair to say the ref had a….mixed game. If we had VAR we’d still be at Oakwell now.
We’d gone ahead in the first half. Alnwick (Remember him? ‘Alnwick. He makes me panic.’) fumbles a corner (shades of Davies and/or Townsend) and McBurnie turns a guy on the back post before having his shot cleared off the line and rebound blocked. The ball runs loose and it’s that man GARDNER again, 2nd week in a row, hammering it into the roof of the net from 12 yards.
Chances either side are later missed, before THAT pen. We’ve thrown it away. From probably staying up, to probably relegated in a second. 3 mins later we’ve advanced to ‘certainly relegated’ as Bolton nick a 2nd. Our heads have clearly gone down and the defence are panicking. Yiadom beats his own keeper to the ball and the loose ball falls to them to shoot in. Either Davies has to put a name on it, or Yiadom has to bloody listen. I don’t know what stunned us more; their penalty award or this.
However, we seem to be made of sterner stuff this last fortnight, as, instead of withering and dying, we decide to PUT UP A FIGHT. We pile men forward and in injury time, get a corner. Hammill (I think) curls it in, Moore gets the flick on, and it’s that man MCBURNNNNNNIE heading in from close range. We have staved off relegation for another week. Thinking of last week’s late shenanighans against the Blunts, my mate Shaka Hislop comments ‘it’s like de ja vous all over again’.
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| Celebrating the opener. |
*** Gardner. What I mainly liked, apart from his goal (obvs), was his ability and willingness to track back and chase. The amount of Bolton counter-attacks which Gardner dealt with were…numerous. Twitter MOTM.
** McBurnie. Ohhhhhh Ollie McBurnie. Our only hope does it again. If he does it another 4 times we met yet stay up. Somehow. I can watch him all day, the way he ungracefully skins the opposition despite no obvious skill or pace. And everyone loves an ungainly footballer, eh Casper?
* Moore. Held a ball up, led line well, took s*** from defenders (and the ref), set up the equaliser…coulda, woulda, shouda had a penalty.
Londontykes' MOTM: 1. Gardner 2. McBurnie 3. Moore
Despatches:
Did I mention the ref had an interesting game? A season is 46 matches, but, I’m sorry, luck does NOT even itself out over a season. Not when you’re 2 points behind your rivals with 5 to play. Finally, finally, we are starting to show something, but we need them points. The £60 worth of betting man in me still says we’re going down. But all 4 of our last games are winnable in their own way.
This is difficult, given it’s 3 days later. Yiadom was poor, though still cleared one off the line. Fryers I don’t remember, which was an improvement on the week before, when I still can. Lindsay and Jackson were solid (am I repeating myself?), then Jackson went off at half time for Pinnock. Like for like. Moncur looked confident on the ball, though without the killer pass, while Hammill worked hard and got the odd cross over. Potts was up and down the pitch. I can’t remember Davies having much to do, apart from picking the proverbial couple of goals out of the net.
Onwards and upwards! BELIEVE!
Away: c2200.
The Damage:
£28 train
= £28
The Tunes:
Mixed Up (The Cure)
Mogwai Young Team (Mogwai)
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