Mauled by the Tigers!

Dear oh dear. The Reds once again conspired to turn victory into defeat through a combination of poor finishing and slack defending. The defeat to Hull adds to the sense of frustration surrounding a Barnsley side that have been in front in every one of their five games this season. One win, however, sees them sitting in 18th place in the Beazer Homes Premiership or whatever it is we play in these days.

The afternoon started in a surreal fashion. What looked like a huge sticking plaster had been placed just off the centre circle for a sky dive landing that was due to touch down at ten to three. (Why this was happening I never found out). Ten to three came and went before it was announced that the landing would occur at five to three. As it turned out, the only thing to happen at five to three was the players coming out on to the pitch. The oversized sticking plaster was hurriedly taken away, without explanation. I for one was hoping that the sky diver would eventually turn up midway through the first half, perhaps landing on Nicky Barmby’s head, but it never happened.

To add to the general sense of weirdness, Barnsley right back Bobby Hassell (as ginger as a particularly ginger ginger biscuit) was sporting a comedy bleached blonde hair do, a la Paul Gascoigne circa Euro 96. Weird.

Loan signing Michael Chopra was brought straight into the side to partner big Barry Conlon up front as Paul Hart opted for a 4-4-2 formation, rather than the 4-5-1 he has favoured thus far. Barnsley started brightly and took the lead on twelve minutes when Conlon headed home Shuker’s near post corner. So far so good, and Barnsley enjoyed some good spells of possession as the half progressed, without really creating any clear cut chances. Paul Reid impressed for the Reds: he tackled well, breaking down Hull attacks on several occasions, and his distribution was excellent. Left back Tom Williams got forward frequently and (unlike in the previous home match against Luton) his crossing was superb. Hull looked dangerous from time to time, with Barmby at the heart of most of their good moves but Reds keeper Colgan was a spectator for much of the half.

Barnsley ended the first period particularly strongly, forcing a couple of corners in stoppage time. After the second corner was cleared, Williams lashed a half volley that flew into the Hull net from fully thirty five yards. Unfortunately, the half-time whistle had just gone and the Hull keeper was walking towards the tunnel, but it was a genuinely impressive effort which might have gone in, even with a keeper in the nets. Probably.

Half-time saw the Barnsley FC PR/Events team again earn their corn. The fans were "treated" to a 50 yard sprint competition where people from the crowd volunteered to run down the side of the pitch as fast as they could. Sounds brilliant doesn't it? The problem was, the ‘starter’s whistle was a bit hit and miss so each of the three heats had about eight false starts. In keeping with the general ineptness, Mr Tannoy Man inexplicably failed to give us the half-time scores. There’s a phrase about not being able to organise a drunken evening in a brewery which applies to Barnsley FC’s pitch side personnel (who presumably include Brian Potter and Jerry St. Clair amongst their number).

Anyway, back to the football. The Reds again looked dangerous at the start of the second half: Reid saw his deflected shot fly just over the bar and Nicky Wroe flashed a shot wide with Myhill in the City goal stranded. The best chance fell to Conlon who wastefully sliced the ball wide from ten yards out after good work from Williams.

The Reds were left to rue this miss. Colgan saved Barnsley when he tipped Steve Elliott’s shot round the post at full stretch. On 58 minutes, however, Elliot was given the freedom of the Barnsley penalty area to head home Dawson’s corner. The equaliser invigorated the opposition and the Barnsley midfield, so dominant in the first half, suddenly disappeared as City picked up the pace. As in the first half, though, Hull never really threatened Colgan’s goal.

The introduction of Daniel Nardiello in the 78th minute almost produced immediate dividends for the Reds but his shot, following Chopra’s through ball, trickled agonisingly past the far post. Barnsley never came as close again, and the game looked to be heading for a stalemate. If only...

The sucker punch came in stoppage time when an innocuous looking clearance landed at the feet of substitute Michael Keane, who was given time and space to curl a sweet strike past Colgan and into the Barnsley goal. Game over.

So, the inability to hold onto a lead and the tendency to concede late, late goals continues to haunt Paul Hart’s team. We certainly deserved a draw from yesterday’s game, if not a win, but lapses at the back will continue to be a problem unless the players can stay focused for 90 minutes.

The most disturbing aspect of yesterday’s performance was the apparent surrender of the midfield in the second half and our seeming inability to change things, either tactically or through the use of substitutes. In the absence of McPhail, we lack a player who can really stamp his authority on the game in the middle of the park. Given the ex-L**ds man's track record with injuries, it's a problem that we are going to have to tackle.

New boy Chopra was anonymous for long periods, but his movement off the ball impressed and he looked to have potential as a foil for Conlon. That said, Michael Boulding can consider himself unfortunate to be left on the bench in light of his sparkling start to the season and I would have liked to have seen Nardiello brought on much earlier. Star man for me yesterday was Tom Williams although, like most of his team mates, he faded in the second half. Wooden spoon goes to Bobby Hassell who looked a liability at times: maybe it's time to bring back Neil Austin, Mr Hart?

The opening few games of the season have demonstrated that Barnsley have enough quality and strength in depth to do well this season. Results have not gone our way, however. It's easy to blame the defence when you look at the number of goals we have conceded (particularly late on) and there's no doubt that we need to tighten up at the back. The midfield, however, has to do a better job of protecting the back four and maintaining possession when we're up against it - the ball was given away with alarming regularity yesterday.

We've got the scoring bit pretty much sussed - all we need to do now is sort out the "not conceding" bit. Easy...