Barnsley 1 Port Vale 2: Another day of torture at Oakwell

An excellent goalkeeping display from Port Vale keeper Jon Brain helped Port Vale steal a 2-1 victory at Oakwell.

Barnsley lined up with the same team that had brought home three points from Bournemouth, therefore both Jacob Burns and Chris Shuker were on the bench after serving their respective suspensions.

The Reds started brightly once again and were creating several chances.  Frustratingly, penalty appeals were turned down: one for a clear hand ball (which I think everybody in the ground saw apart from me), the other when a tangle of legs in the area resulted in Dale Tonge going down when through on goal.  Both could have been given.

Pin point crosses by Tom Williams and Nicky Wroe were met perfectly by Conlon only for the big number nine to be denied on both occasions by Vale keeper Brain.  The second stop was without a doubt one of the best saves I have seen at Oakwell.

On the stroke of half-time, Barnsley took the lead from a Conlon penalty.  The penalty was given when Vale defender Michael Cummins was adjudged to have bundled over Anthony Kay.  The award looked quite harsh, taking in to consideration the two appeals that had been turned down, but what was surprising is that Cummins did not even receive a caution for the offence.

Coming out for the second half, the Reds seemed to be a little tentative.  Would Barnsley be punished, yet again, for not turning their domination in to goals?  The answer, unfortunately, was yes.  An inspired substitution on the hour by Vale manager Martin Foyle changed the game.

The pace of Jeff Smith, and the assistance of the Barnsley back four, who for some reason were defending on the half way line, brought first an equaliser from Paynter and then an own goal from Robbie Williams.  With the Reds 2-1 down, several more top drawer saves from Brain kept Barnsley at bay, with Conlon, Chopra, Tonge and Nardellio all being denied.

Two things were apparent from this game.  Firstly, the team should not be changed as we are playing good football and creating goal scoring opportunities (in truth we battered the opposition). Secondly, Mr Hart is apparently unaware of the fact that he can make substitutions whenever he wants and does not have to wait until 10-15 minutes to go. Changes should have been made as soon as we fell behind.

Man of the Match: once again, it has to be Big Barry Conlon.