Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Eighteen: Plymouth Argyle v Barnsley

Team News

Midfielder Anderson De Silva is suspended after picking up his fifth booking of the season in the 1-0 win over Cardiff last weekend. Jamal Campbell-Ryce and Emil Hallfredsson are fighting for his spot. Darren Moore has recovered from his toe injury whilst Hugo Colace is also fully fit from his groin problem.

Likely Lineup:

Luke Steele

Carl Dickinson

Stephen Foster

Ryan Shotton

Rob Kozluk

Jamal Campbell-Ryce/ Emil Hallfredsson

Hugo Colace

Nathan Doyle

Adam Hammill

Jon Macken

Daniel Bogdanovic

Head To Head

Barnsley have enjoyed the recent long treks to Home Park, winning two of their three visits there in the Championship. Overall though the stats make miserable reading- with The Reds losing 20 of their 33 visits.

Last season a 2-1 win on the final day of the season secured Championship survival. Gary Sawyer put the Pilgrims in front but The Reds responded through strikes from Adam Hammill and Jamal Campbell-Ryce. The result turned out to be academic as Norwich were beaten at Charlton but it was a still a great day out for the 3000 travelling support. A 4-2 win on the South Coast in March 2007 also helped pave the way to stave off relegation. A Lewin Nyatanga header, two incredible strikes from Martin Devaney and a late composed finish from Istvan Ferenczi, lifted The Reds four points clear of the drop zone that night.

There have been some major hammerings at Plymouth in recent years however. The Reds were thumped 3-0 in February 2008- although this came after Nyatanga was shown a straight red card in the fourth minute- a decision which was later overturned. Four days after that mauling Barnsley went to Anfield and knocked Liverpool out of the FA Cup!

The Reds were beaten 2-0 at Home Park in September 2003, which at the time knocked them out of the League One Play-Off zone.

The 2-0 home win over Plymouth last season ensured 2008-2009 brought a first double over Plymouth in exactly 20 years.

Barnsley 2-0 Plymouth Match Report 20/12/08

Barnsley 3-2 Plymouth Match Report 25/8/07

Barnsley 2-2 Plymouth Match Report 17/10/06

Overall Record:

Plymouth Wins: 29

Barnsley Wins: 17

Draws: 17

Plymouth Goals: 109

Barnsley Goals: 71

At Home Park:

Plymouth Wins: 20

Barnsley Wins: 5

Draws: 8

Plymouth Goals: 68

Barnsley Goals: 32

This Season

Like Barnsley, Plymouth suffered a season of struggle last term, only securing survival a week before The Reds did by beating Plymouth. And this season the pressure has increased on manager Paul Sturrock as the Pilgrims find themselves at the wrong end of the table yet again. It took them till the end of the September to gain their first victory- a 2-1 win at Peterborough, as they lost seven of their first nine games. The Pilgrims have picked up in recent weeks however- last weekends injury time defeat at Leicester was their first defeat in four, having claimed back to back wins previously over Middlesbrough and Doncaster. Incidentally their four victories this campaign have come in back to back sequences- Boro and Doncaster, and in September- Peterborough/Scunthorpe.

Some good news for the Barnsley supporters making the 605 mile round trip is that Plymouth- who occupy the final relegation spot are the second lowest scorers in the division and have yet to keep a clean sheet at home this season. They have in fact kept just one clean sheet all season- in the 1-0 victory at Boro.

Barnsley are looking for their fifth away victory of the season today, which is almost unprecedented for The Reds at this stage of the season. They have actually achieved five victories at Championship grounds already this season having won at Reading in the Carling Cup. Their last trip was against a side in the bottom three- and they won, 2-1 at Peterborough. They haven’t won two successive away games since beating Charlton and Doncaster in October/November last year. Avoiding defeat this afternoon would make it four games without loss for the first time this season. Ironically the last time they had a four match unbeaten run the fourth match came at Plymouth.

Last six 2009-2010 Results

Plymouth:

21/11/09 Leicester 1-0 Plymouth (Championship)

7/11/09 Plymouth 2-1 Doncaster (Championship)

31/10/09 Middlesbrough 0-1 Plymouth (Championship)

24/10/09 Plymouth 1-1 Ipswich (Championship)

20/10/09 Bristol City 3-1 Plymouth (Championship)

17/10/09 Plymouth 0-2 Blackpool (Championship)

W:2 D:1 L:3 F:5 A:8 GD: -3 Points:7

Barnsley:

21/11/09 Barnsley 1-0 Cardiff (Championship)

9/11/09 Barnsley 2-2 Sheffield United (Championship)