What is that weird feeling? I can’t quite put my finger on it. A sort of tingly sensation, making one smile nonsensically like a demented patient of Bethlem Royal Hospital (‘Bedlam’). A strange sense of joy, of positivism, of joie de vivre (is that right? My French is merde.) Oh yes, WE WON A GAME. Was it the Righteous Brothers who sang ‘You’ve lost that losing feeling...’? Barnsley are back (Barnsley are back)!
We outfought and outshot a Rangers side lacking the creativity and fluidity which have taken them to 4th in the table. Who’d have thunk they were 7 unbeaten, and us 13 without a win? Yet they should have opened the scoring early, as a cross to the backpost had a Ranger on his own, 6 yards from his nearest marker. Thankfully, instead of simply directing it towards goal with his right foot, he did everything to get it onto his left and blazed it into the crowd. What is it with one-footed players?
Talking of creative, we have Benson, who nearly broke the deadlock with a sublime pass which created a 2 on 1. Unfortunately, the 2 on 1 was in Rangers’ favour, but hey ho. Small steps, and all. Helik legged it across to make a superb block. In the meantime, we took pot shots from 20 yards which, while often on target, never really threatened. The most eye catching effort was from Jordan Williams, who ran from his own half and burst past at least 4 opposition midfielders in a way no-one else in our team can, before launching it over the bar in a way many of our team can.
One thing I’ll say for the second half – Rangers didn’t once threaten. Even when that last minute cross was millimetres from Dyke’s head, I was never worried. Us? Gomes blazed over on the volley from 10 yards. Poor. Another couple of ‘sighters’ and the best we had was 2 breaks down the left with Quina. Shirley (Bassi) was ahead of him, unmarked, an easy ball and a chance to cross. Quina ignored him, twice, to get his head down and run into traffic, the ball greedy so-and-so. The danger with this approach is that Shirley will stop making those runs. So it was with some trepidation that Quina broke away again, ignoring my screams to ‘PASS THE BALL!’ to lash home from 20 yards. What do I know? (Well, I know he wasted 2 promising attacks with his earlier unwillingness to part with the ball.)
Onwards and upwards!
*** Quina. Am I really giving MOTM to someone just for scoring? YES! But he did bring the ball forward a few times, which is a few times more than anybody else save for Jordan.
**Helik. Am I really giving 2nd for someone making a goal saving block? YES! (I’m having trouble sorting the wheat from the chaff this week; they were generally much of a muchness.)
* Vita. Why not? Looked comfortable coming forward.
Official MOTM: Quina. Won….so we named one.
Londontykes’ MOTM: 1. Quina 2. Vita 3. Helik
Despatches:
Leaving the ground, there were people doing that weird thing they do, where open their mouths and show off their tooth decay. Smiling, I think they call it. ‘How many points are we off t’play-offs?’ I heard one fan ask amid joyful cackling. I was just happy we were off the bottom after Derby’s defeat. Oh. (I didn’t realise we were a staggering FOUR points behind a team who’d given us a 21 point headstart.) So, no, no time to get carried away. Just proof we’ve carried our midfield all season and we’re looking to a Watford reserve player (note: Watford are bottom of the Premiership) and a clean sheet to eke out a victory. I guess I was just disappointed Jonesy had finally seen a win this season. I was looking forward to us taking it to the wire!!!!
As for winning our 1st game in whenever, one must assume we did something different today. And I did – was it the pre-match steak bake? Or walking through the Alhambra to the ground, avoiding the usual hike around the train station while that bridge never gets built?
Drink du jour: What was that IPA in the record shop pub beginning with ‘E’? Epilogue? Epilepsy? Leprosy? No, can’t have been the latter, doesn’t begin with ‘E’. (What begins with an ‘E’? A decent night out!)
Away: 1,405. Never seen so many of ‘em. Took them 8 minutes for a round of ‘Barnsley’s a sh*thole, I wanna go home.’ Point of order on this one, chairman – QPR (or Shepherd’s Bush) is the only place I’ve ever been food poisoned pre-match, vomiting all over a pub wall within an hour of imbibing.
Number of league games since a midfielder owned by Barnsley FC scored a goal: 25. Can someone else check this, please? I can hardly believe it myself. Benson, Palmer, Styles, Brittain, Wolfe….ok, I believe it a bit more now. (FYI, Styles bagged in August. August!) Tell me I’ve missed one…
The Damage:
c. £32 petrol
£3 programme
£18 mugs
= c. £35
The Tunes:
BBC 5Live
Skywriting (The Field Mice)
Craig Charles’ Funk and Soul Show (BBC6 Music)
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