The last time Queens Park Rangers came to Oakwell and pocketed the points, Barnsley would go on to win promotion to the Premier League, as QPR ended 14 years of misery in this part of South Yorkshire, there was certainly no danger of this current crop of men in red pushing at the top of the Championship, and unless manager Mark Robins undertakes the major rebuilding job he has hinted at in recent weeks, this club will never rise to the previous heights enjoyed at the end of the last century and turn of this one.
A lot of credit and praise has to be given to the majority of these players who for four successive seasons now have kept this club in the second tier of English football whilst much larger clubs from much larger cities with much larger budgets such as Leeds, Leicester, Norwich, Southampton, Charlton and possibly Sheffield Wednesday have all headed down the trapdoor to the graveyard of League One.
BUT if this club is to push on and make ninth place a regular slot, rather just a surprisingly brief one as it was in February then many of these current players have to go.
As Robins has mentioned on many occasions, when he took over the reins in September, the club had to produce promotion form just to get out of the mess left by Simon Davey. For two months, and nine games they produced that form, but since the 6-1 thumping at champions Newcastle, the true mettle of this side has been shown and from being in the heady heights of ninth on 6th February, they now sit 18th on 53 points after stretching their winless run to nine matches. Back in 2007-2008 when the club sat fourth in October, they finished 18th with two points more than they have now. So despite this seeming like a successful season with a Robins led Reds collecting 52 points from 40 games, if they do not beat West Brom on the final day this will rank as the second worst season at this level since returning four years ago, and they would only have one win and one more point than last season when the fight for survival went to the final day!
Yesterday’s display was highly predictable despite the war cry from players and management alike that the team were determined to finish with a bang. The previous three home games- two of which they had failed to score in- gave a clearer indication about how this game against Neil Warnock’s side would pan out. Since defeating Nottingham Forest 2-1 in mid March- the only victory in the last 12 matches- this current bunch of players have just not looked interested, whilst others- namely Jon Macken, Nathan Doyle and Hugo Colace (surely the worst choice for Player of the Year EVER) simply do not look good enough. Colace and Doyle are likely to stay- which makes me fear for the midfield maulings we will endure in 2010-2011, but Macken, along with the injured Anderson De Silva and Daniel Bogdanovic (who was booed by the fans who once adored him when he went to claim his Disabled Player of the Year award on the pitch prior to kick-off) will surely be the first out of the exit door this summer. Indeed I personally had forgot Macken was on the pitch for the vast majority of the game which is disappointing, as despite only contributing five goals- his worst tally for the club, his work-rate has always been admired.
The Reds had chances, no doubt, but squandered them which probably isn’t surprising considering that the Reds first team strike-force of Macken, Hume, Bogdanovic and Gray have 30 goals between them and Bogdanovic has scored 14 (nearly 50%) of those. Hume had a golden chance within the first three minutes when Macken’s only contribution sent Hume scampering clear, but just has his low right footed effort looked destined for the bottom corner; keeper Radek Cerny flung his right hand down to make a stunning stop.
That miss was nothing compared to Antonio German’s on 24 minutes. If you have seen Shefki Kuqi’s howler against The Reds last week you will probably be thinking that should go down as Miss of the Season, yesterday German surpassed that. Akos Buszaky- the Reds tormentor at Loftus Road back in September- scampered clear down the left hand side and squared the ball across the area where 18 year old German was standing three yards out and completely unmarked. Somehow instead of tapping in the opening goal, he scuffed the shot and a sprawling Luke Steele managed to get something in the way to block it! Two minutes later The Reds were denied when Cerny came out to block Hume and Macken’s snapshot on the rebound was well blocked.
A minute after that Rangers grabbed the lead, and the game. If German’s woeful miss gave a glimpse of why QPR haven’t made the promotion push everybody expected them to this season, Mikele Leigertwood- who also scored in the 5-2 drubbing, showed why the West London side are expected to be a much better proposition under Warnock’s stewardship come August as he unleashed an unstoppable drive from 25 yards that cracked in off the underside of the crossbar. The defending before it left a lot to be desired however. Hogan Ephraim took out Luke Potter and Adam Hammill with a back heel and Leigertwood sent Doyle about four feet the wrong way with a shrug of his shoulder to set himself for the shot.
The Reds had one major chance to equalise on 34 minutes when Jacob Butterfield’s stunning ball sent Colace racing clear from his own half. But despite having half of the length of the pitch to himself the man who the majority of fans have claimed to be the best player this season smacked his effort straight at Cerny. Before he even got to the area he seemed to be glancing back for options and never looked confident, surprising considering he has plundered seven goals this season for the first time in his career.
The second half petered out in a standard end of season drab where both sets of players looked like they would rather be laying on sand rather than running on grass, but Martin Devaney did come close. The winger who has looked to impress the last few weeks to try and extend his stay at the club into a fifth season was played in but again denied by Cerny. It wouldn’t have counted anyway as the linesman had raised his flag despite the fact Devaney had had to race past a defender to get onto the end of the ball. Robins went racing down the touchline to vent his fury and had to be calmed down by the referee.
A season that promised so much just two short months ago has drifted into one we have all seen so often before and as the curtain fell on another final home game without a win- the sixth time that has been the case in the last seven seasons- all we have left to console ourselves with is the fact that by 9:30pm tomorrow night that mighty club from down the A61 could be relegated to League One. After the trauma of the last nine games, that would be a worthy reason to throw a party!
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Player Ratings Luke Steele – Has had an atrocious end to the season and suffered another clanger, when his attempted clearance ricoched off Jay Simpson but thankfully went wide. 6 Bobby Hassell – Sent one awful effort high and wide at the end but was solid defensively. 7 Stephen Foster - Solid and linked up well with old pal Moore. Was particularly strong in the air. 7 Darren Moore- Hard to say whether this will have been his final home game for the club but if it was he was in top form. Made some brilliant last ditch tackles. 7.5 Luke Potter – Has struggled a little recently which probably not surprising as this was his 1oth successive Championship start and before this season he had made just one appearance for The Reds. Humiliated by Ephraim in the lead to the goal but it has been a very progressive season for the 20 year old. Booked. Subbed. 6 Jacob Butterfield – Played in an unusual position on the right of midfield but still showed off his talent. Played a gorgeous ball to release Colace that the Argentine should have finished. 7 Nathan Doyle – Atrocious display. Miskicked, fluffed up simple passes and was finally booked after his fifth foul. Booked. Subbed. 3 Hugo Colace – If this kid is Player of the Year then it really doesn’t say much of the rest of the team. Missed a golden chance despite having all the time to pick his spot and never got into the game. 4 Adam Hammill – Another abject display and another that ended early. It really has been a season to forget for him. Subbed. 4 Jon Macken – Played a great ball through for Hume, but there was none of his usual tireless workrate. Has he been told he’s going in the summer.... maybe? 5 Iain Hume – Probably Barnsley’s best player. Should have scored in the third minute but was always lively and always trying to create something. Was the only player who didn’t look like he was thinking of the beach. 7.5 Substitutions: Martin Devaney (for Hammill 40) – Brought much needed energy to the game and was harshly ruled offside when clean through. In this torrid month of April, “Disco” has probably been Barnsley’s best player which is remarkable considering before this month, the last time he had appeared was September. 6.5 Carl Dickinson (for Potter 64) - Incredible to see him back after it looked like his season was finished when he did his knee ligaments last month. Probably the wrong substitution though considering The Reds were chasing the game, not defending it. 6 Alistair Taylor (for Doyle 81) – The club’s Academy player of the year got his first taste of first team football and acquitted himself well. 6 Unused: David Preece, Rob Kozluk, Ryan Shotton, Jamil Adam.
QUEENS PARK RANGERS: Cerny, Buzsaky, Gorkss, German (Simpson 57), Leigertwood, Ramage, Tosic, Faurlin, Ephraim (Cook 80), Parker, Priskin (Brown 90). Most impressed by QPR’s: Mikele Leigertwood: Scored a brilliant goal which looked out of place in this match.
BARNSLEY 0-1 QPR Bristol City 2-1 Derby Cardiff 3-2 Sheffield Wednesday Doncaster 4-3 Scunthorpe Middlesbrough 1-1 Coventry Newcastle 2-2 Ipswich Nottingham Forest 3-0 Ipswich Peterborough 0-1 Blackpool Preston 0-1 Leicester Sheffield United 2-0 Swansea Watford 3-0 Reading Barnsley lie in 18th place in the Coca-Cola Championship with 53 points from 45 games. We are 16 points off the Play-Offs, 36 points off the Automatic Promotion Places, 46 points off First place and 7 points above the Relegation Zone. Up to 25.4.10. Next Up: On The Road: Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Forty Six: West Bromwich Albion v Barnsley Sunday 2nd May 2010 Kick-Off 1pm Tickets: ADULTS - £23.00 |