Barnsley Barometer Brings Billy Blues

Barnsley.  A place I have been to with inexplicable regularity since supporting the club.  The annual away visit is rather like an annual check up at the Doctor.  How are we doing?  We can have an off day against a rival and come out badly, but whether we dispatch this team with ruthlessness and style is usually a good barometer.

Five years ago we were in a tussle for automatic with West Brom in Billy Davies first full season.  We were in second before 2 away losses in mid March, the second being Barnsley, a 2-1 defeat.  We went on to haul just 15 points from the remaining 11 games while the Baggies picked up 28, and the playoff lottery was ours.

After the sting of missing out on Wembley, we were soon back at Oakwell for another reality check in late October.  After an opening day loss the reds had gone on a 9 match unbeaten run until we again found ourselves 2 goals down and despite a Lewis McGugan special, conceded again at the death to be well beaten.  Another playoff year was to ensue, and more pre-Wembley heartache.

By next season's spring venture up the M1 the reds had self destructed with the ill judged Schteve disaster, and were perilously close to relegation.  The club was reeling from the sudden death of chairman Nigel Doughty four weeks earlier, and Steve Cotterill assisted by one  Sean O Driscoll were gamely trying to get the brakes on to halt a slide into League one.  They managed it, for which we owe them a great debt.  But the Barnsley game illustrated why Cotterill would not end up taking up the reins once the new owner arrived.    We dominated a side rock bottom on confidence with 5 losses in their previous 6.   After a good McLeary finish, we should have been out of sight by half time, even if our play was not exactly the beautiful game.  Instead, we sat back to defend a 1-0 lead that the inevitable equalizer came, and Cotterill's happiness with a point epitomised how far Forest had fallen from the previous 2 seasons.

Despite assembling a squad from scratch in about 5 days, Sean O'Driscoll was making a good fist of the Al Hasawi owner's first season in charge which managed to get to the Oakwell game at the end of October having been beaten only twice.  Forest were purring, and despite a Marlon Harewood opener that was not in the script we wopped them with Halford, Cox and Cohen on the score sheet before half time, and the returning son Jermaine Jenas finishing a deft dink over the keeper to put the icing on the cake.  It seemed we were building steadily and Barnsley away showed the promise ahead as we moved into 7th place.  Sean's reign was ended in a ground hog day moment of "chairman gets dazzled by former international manager who comes in and bombs out" plot-line, and the wee scot returned to the managerial fold, ultimately finishing one place below where we were on that cloudy autumn day.

And so to today.  Again Barnsley would be a litmus test.  Forest with arguably the strongest squad in the division and being well placed for a tilt at second, sat a comfortable 9 points above 7th place but problems loom.  The ever growing sick bay at the city ground had its 7th first choice player enter with Hobbs & Reidy joining Lansbury, Cohen, Wilson, Vaughan and Lichaj.   Despite this, we had a 14 game unbeaten run, but it looked like things were finally creaking.  A draw to Leicester was disappointing but creditable, but then back to back losses against Burnley and Wigan.  But both those teams are strong top 6 sides so had the wheels really come off?  The social media noise tended to be looking in the face of triumph and disaster with every result seeing neither for the impostor Kipling unmasks them to be.   Barnsley though.  Barnsley would be the test.  Barnsley, bottom of the table, just thumped 5-0 and having won only once since early December.   A side run on a shoestring, who can muster only 9,300 home fans to the game.  The prevailing thinking is that even if the depleted Reds cant master the top clubs until our squad recovers, if we can build up the points against the weaker teams we will ease into the playoffs for a final burst for the Wembley prize.

The Yorkshire club do their best.  Stirring music and a parade of flag waving children stoked up an eery quiet ground despite the ghostly half of the fourth stand, the championship's answer to the Marie Celeste.  Still,  the roar of the eager away mob of just under 3,000 filled the air.  A perfect antidote to the dark malcontent and self doubt of the forums and twitterati of recent days as our heroes decked in the white and blue of the limited edition third kit took to the field.

The first half saw a scrappy forest make a sleepy start, perhaps lulled by the home crowd's polite silence.  There were three  highlights of the first half hour:   Darlow tipping over a good strike by the not-closed-down Dale Jennings, then the WWF reverse slam with half nelson by debutante Kevin Gomis when he got the wrong side of a Barnsley player out wide, and finally the entertaining chants of 'He walks on the Trent, he walks on the Trent, he's Jonathan Greening, he walks on the Trent' as the Jesus lookalikey warmed up down the touchline.     

With echoes of the Cotterill game before it, Forest were giving the home side plenty of room and their shattered confidence was gradually rebuilding before our eyes.   Forest struggled to play with any fluency or create anything to raise an eyebrow, up until Abdoun's act of sorcery by the corner flag to skip past 2 players and head in.  But by now forest's pattern of casual misplaced passing was causing more trouble.  Another shot on Darlow's goal. 

This was a muted performance lacking energy.  No passing to feet, and a level of lumping it forward not seen since previous managers had been at the helm.  Forest's best chance came late on in the half with a well weighted Abdoun cross perfectly placed for a free header from the penalty spot, but with the goal at his mercy Cox headed wide.

There was a sense that it wouldn't take much to pull away from the Yorkshire club, but Forest hadn't got out of first gear and the half was fizzling out. 

Now one thing my trips to Barnsley these last five years have taught me is that it is not a place of lightning fast service.  The prospect of a 25 minute queue for food that has run out waiting for the black capped assistants move in zombie-like dazed slow motion whilst I miss the second half did not appeal.  Could I tear myself away from the languid spectacle of the last 10 minutes of the first 45?   I  sloped off early before the oven chips ran out and secured what is the highlight of the trip to these parts:  a short crust Balti pie.   Waiting in the queue for the inevitable cheer that said I'd missed a cracker of a goal.  I need not have worried.  All was deathly quiet and the crowd heaved a sigh of relief when the ref mercifully added only a single minute of added time.  The players troop off down a tunnel by the corner flag at Barnsley, and we away fans applauded politely to encourage the lads.

Hope reawakens at the re-start.  The vocal optimism of the away fans has been subdued but we hope for a rallying round and some more energy and drive to take this game by the scruff of the neck.  Unfortunately, it seems there has not been a team talk to speak of, and more of the same ensues.  9 minutes in, like the first half, Dale not-closed-down Jennings has another crack - but this time it goes past Darlow and to the home fans delighted disbelief their team are leading.   A brief wake-up call brings out some good work by Cox to get into the box, and earn a corner, and a chance for a rather tame shot by Radi.  But we huff and puff and ease back.  We still fail to raise our game, struggling to string 2 passes together or exert any pressure and the home side begin to really believe.   We are making a terrible side look Ok.  

Again Barnsley test Darlow at full stretch from a corner.  A long clearance swirls to Abdoun who wins a free kick at the corner of the penalty area.   His floated strike comes to nothing as if to mockingly underscore Reid's absence.  Paterson drives a stinger and is not far away.  Abdoun drives a stinger from further out and IS far away, when a pass to a better placed player was the better choice.  Groans all around. 

Hendo comes on for Mackie,   Derbyshire for Cox.  

A mazy dribble past 3 Barnsley players and into the box for Halford proves his last significant contribution of the afternoon as the shot rises skyward high above the goal.  Despite the early season experiment, a centre forward he is not.   So  Moose displaces Jara who has struggled in the defensive midfield role and returns to Right Back for Halford to end his afternoon.

The home side dig in, and defend with passion as Forest try a few of their moves but it is not wholehearted, and a second Abdoun free kick late on is, in all honesty, the only real test their keeper has had all day. 

And with that, and five minutes (or two Barnsley keeper goal kicks if you prefer that unit of time) stoppages, the game is over.   3 defeats in a row.   I join the ranks of those who, a week ago were telling people hitting the panic button not to overreact, who are now silently doing the maths about 7th place and hoping above hope that Jonathan Greening picks up Jesus' other talents and brings some healing power to the city ground sick bay.