Opening day triumph for the Tykes
Last updated : 10 August 2003 By West Stander
Against all the odds, Barnsley FC kicked-off the 2003-04 season with a win. Whether the club will be around in twelve months time could yet depend on the latest takeover rumours concerning Peter Ridsdale & Patrick Cryne. For the time being though, Reds fans can sit back and enjoy the fact that they still have a club to cheer on. Around eight and a half thousand of them turned out yesterday to see Barnsley pull off an unlikely victory over a Colchester team tipped by many to make the play-offs this season.
The build-up to this game could hardly have been more unsettling for the players: the FA, having prevented the Reds from taking part in all but one of their pre-season matches, only gave Barnsley the go-ahead to play in this game on the Friday.
New boss Gudjon Thordason had no alternative but to field a new-look Barnsley side: Bruce Dyer, Mike Sheron, Mitch Ward and Chris Morgan have all left the club over the summer and Gary Jones’ injury will keep him out for the next two months.
Since his appointment, Thordason has emphasised the importance of his teams being difficult to beat and there’s no doubt that Barnsley looked solid at the back yesterday. The defensive debutantes - goalkeeper Sasa Ilic, left-back Tony Gallimore and centre-halves Craig Ireland and Peter Handyside – all did enough to suggest they will be valuable additions to the squad.
The experienced IIic commanded his penalty area while Handyside, the new club captain, was particularly impressive: he was composed on the ball, strong in the tackle and he organised and encouraged his team mates. Ireland worked well alongside him: a giant of a player, he won virtually all of his headers, although his distribution was shaky at times. Gallimore defended well and got forward once or twice to deliver some excellent crosses.
The weakest part of the back four was at right-back: Thordason, like previous managers, obviously sees something in Brian O’Callaghan that the fans don’t. For me, his lumbering and painfully slow style, coupled with his tendency to over-elaborate when in possession, means that his every touch of the ball makes for uncomfortable viewing.
The main question mark over the defence is the lack of pace that was exposed at times yesterday. This could be a real problem when the Reds come up against teams with pacy strikers.
In midfield, Kay competed well, and, to use an appalling footballing cliché, proved that he has a ‘good engine’. Hayward was my man of the match, working tirelessly to support both the defence and attack. Betsy was as frustrating as ever at times, but he put in several good crosses and his pace and dribbling skills are sorely needed, simply because no other player in the side has these attributes. Similarly, Gorre flitted in and out of the game yesterday, but he is our most (only?!?) creative player, and thus warrants a place in the team. Mulligan, playing out of position on the left-hand side of midfield, had a quiet game, but did put in the superb cross that led to the penalty.
Lone striker Fallon struggled without support, but competed well and was at the heart of some of Barnsley's best moves. It’s clear for all to see, however, that Barnsley desperately need another forward (or two, ideally) because, for all of their pressure, the Reds rarely looked like scoring yesterday.
Barnsley fans can take lots of positives out of the game: above all, this was a hard-working, committed display, something that fans were crying out for last season, when apathetic, spineless perormances were almost the norm. Even Lumsdon and Rankin got it in on the act, both of then tackling back and chasing lost causes in their brief appearances as substitutes.
In truth, a draw may have been a fairer outcome - Colchester were always a threat, and aside from the penalty miss, they were unlucky to see Fagan's first half effort hit the bar - but, after what this club has been through in the last few months, surely no one would begrudge Barnsley a bit of luck
