Shuker Duper! Barnsley v Bristol City match report.

Last updated : 11 August 2004 By West Stander

Paul Hart’s new look Barnsley team picked up three points against the highly fancied Bristol City at Oakwell last night. A brace from Chris “Davor” Shuker proved enough to clinch the win, although a late consolation goal from the imperssive Lita had Tykes fans biting their nails throughout three nervy minutes of injury time.

Shuker had spent much of the game doing his best to confirm his nearlyman reputation. Seemingly everytime he had the ball, Shuker narrowly failed to beat a man, put in a cross, play a through ball, etc. Just as the crowd were beginning to cry out for the introduction of Daniel Nardiello, Shuker applied the finish to Nick Wroe’s through ball, drilling home a low shot. He added a second a few minutes later, when, after an excellent pull back from Stephen McPhail, Shuker’s snapshot trickled over the line via a couple of fortuitous deflections.


Barnsley
just about deserved their lead in what had been an entertaining affair. Both sides had enjoyed good spells of possession, and City could claim to have made the better chances – Paul Hefferman somehow conspired to head wide from five yards after half an hour, and he then headed against the post following a second half corner – but the Reds’ attacking display warranted some reward. Phillips in the City goal had thwarted both Shuker & Williams in the first half, and Conlon headed over after a superb cross from Boulding at the start of the second period. An injury to Matt Carbon and the defensive reshuffle that followed looked to have weakened the side, but Barnsley deserve credit for continuing to push for a breakthrough.


Paul Hart has been been a busy boy this summer and the phrase “making his Oakwell debut” could be heard several times when Mr Tannoy man announced the Reds’ starting line up. So how did the new boys rate?


Nick Colgan (keeper). Handling looked a bit suspect early on, and a dodgy clearance didn’t help his cause. Initially had the air of someone who had been dragged in off the street ten minutes before kick off and didn’t really know what he was supposed to do. Seemed to develop in confidence as the game went on. Could do nothing about Lita’s goal.

Matt Carbon (centre half). My man of the match. Outstanding at the back: a colossus, a man mountain and lots of other footballing cliches I can’t think of. Dominant in the air, quick on the ground and strong in the tackle, he was sorely missed when he limped off early in the second half.

Tony Vaughan (centre half). Not a patch on Carbon but solid enough.


Tom Williams (left back). Deceptively quick, put in some key tackles and looked confident when going forward.


‘Little’ Bobby Hassell (right back). Ginger. Competed well, and got forward on occasions, but his positioning was erratic at times. Not half as effective when he was asked to fill Paul Reid’s defensive midfield role.


Paul Reid (defensive midfield). Disappointing, in my opinion. The role he fills means that he is never going to stand out, but City had some dominant spells in midfield where Reid was chasing shadows.


Stephen McPhail. Did not live up to his billing in the matchday programme (“supremely gifted”, “best left foot in the division”, etc) but showed glimpses of what he could do. Did superbly well for Shuker’s second goal.


Barry Conlon. Mmm. Big and bald, Barry looks the missing fourth member of Right Said Fred. The current formation means he has a very tough job to do, and is often isolated up front. That said, he missed a peach of chance in the second half and seems to have picked up that strange,
Barnsley target man disease of being 6 ft when standing and 5 ft 8 when jumping. Incredibly slow – makes Andy Rammell look like Linford Christie.


Of the other players, Boulding had probably his best game in a
Barnsley shirt. Full of pace, and always willing to take on the full back, he was a constant threat down the left hand side. Nicky Wroe did okay – like Reid, he was out of the game for long spells but produced a great through ball for Barnsley’s first goal and worked hard throughout. Goals aside, Shuker was as frustrating as ever, but if he scores two every game I won’t complain. To add to the dilemma as to who should fill the right wing berth, Nardiello, Shuker’s natural replacement in the current formation, played like a man possessed in the fifteen minutes of action he saw, twice going close after mazy runs at the City defence.


Overall, then,
Barnsley fans should be feeling pretty positive about things although, in my mind at least, there is still a question mark over the effectiveness of this 4-1-4-1 formation. Yes, the two wide players push up to support the attack but Conlon is isolated too often for my liking. A partner (Nardiello?) would take a lot of the pressure off him and free up the midfield, which was occasionally congested. A second striker would also give the defence more options when clearing the ball – City soon picked up on the fact that Conlon was our main target and were able to pick off most of the passes that came his way. All in all, though, a good performance from the Reds and one that bodes well for the rest of the season.