This was bad, very bad. I have to admit that before last night I had wondered why our excellent home performances had not been mirrored on the road, as my most recent away day had been the 6-1 mauling at Newcastle in March. Now I know.
At home, The Reds play a free flowing, attacking style of football with full backs joining the wingers further up the field and two attackers awaiting balls into the box. Last night I don’t think I saw Bobby Hassell leave his own half once the entire game and, well, there was Andy Gray up front.
Mark Robins once again opted for the much maligned 4-4-1-1 formation… at Scunthorpe, a team, with no disrespect intended, The Reds should be looking to beat if they have any aspirations of doing any better than just about avoiding relegation again. I can pretty much guarantee no other team will go to Glanford Park this season and just stick one man upfront. Although I suppose it wouldn’t be so bad if that one up front was any good. We though have Andy Gray. Is he a goal-scorer? Eight goals in 28 starts, and just two in the last 12 suggests not. Is he a target man? The fact Rob Jones last night, and come to that every other centre half this season continually beats him in the air leans towards the assumption he’s not one of those either. To make this all the more depressing, over in West Yorkshire, Barnsley born Jon Parkin was grabbing a hat-trick, whilst his partner bagged his second goal in two games. That partner would be Iain Hume. Yes THAT Iain Hume. The Iain Hume, who Robins deemed below Gray, Liam Dickinson, Jeronimo Neumann and Goran Lovre- yes those devastatingly brilliant strikers- in his thoughts, so sent him packing to Preston.
Oh how we could have done with a Hume last night. Somebody to run at the Scunthorpe defenders, somebody to create space, somebody to take the three men away from Adam Hammill who surrounded him whenever he got on the ball. If only.
Many (or the few) who read my reports on a regular basis will probably have known this one consists more of opinion than of the action on the pitch. Well, that’s because there wasn’t actually much action to talk about!
Scunthorpe had the best chances in the first half when firstly Luke Steele went some way to redeeming himself for the costly errors he has committed so far this season. Josh Wright received a free kick 25 yards from goal and slammed in a shot that was arrowing towards Steele’s right hand corner. The Reds’ number one made his move, but the ball took a wicked deflection in the opposite direction. Steele instinctively flicked out his left hand to palm the effort away. It was a top drawer save from a goalkeeper with much to prove.
Two minutes later ex Sheffield United man Jonathan Forte went even closer as he broke past the attentions of Stephen Foster for the only time in the match, to descend one on one with Steele. The former Barbados international slipped the ball past the advancing Steele but luckily it struck the base of the post rather than the far corner of the net.
That was basically it. Only once was Iron keeper Joe Murphy called into action, and that was saving a scuffed effort from substitute Chris Woods, who was ludicrously kept on the bench for 77 minutes! He did more than either Gray or Lovre had combined.
One positive to take from the game was the strength of the Reds defence, particularly the central defensive partnership of Foster and Jason Shackell. This was the Reds first clean sheet on the road since a goal-less draw with Sheffield United in April, but they managed to keep Chris Dagnall- who has netted braces against both Sheffield sides this season- and Jon Forte quiet for most of the game. Hassell was his usual dependable self if woefully underused in an attacking sense but worryingly limped off after 72 minutes to be replaced by Nathan Doyle. It has to be hoped however that Jay McEveley recovers from his foot injury very soon because Luke Potter had an absolute nightmare at left back. Making his first league start of the season after injury, the 21 year old had a torrid time against Martyn Woolford but brought most of it on himself. The main aim of a defender is to defend his goal, so sorry Luke mate, but running backwards until the opposition has reached your penalty area surely cannot be how its done! Woolford couldn’t believe how easy it was for him to simply pick the ball up and run as Potter just stood off and stood off, until either Shackell or Foster came across to make a challenge. Potter has had a good Reds career so far so we can only hope this was a one off.
All in all this was a very poor advert for Championship football, thankfully then that we are at home this weekend!
Player Ratings:
Luke Steele – Went someway to redeeming himself for the poor season he’s having with a wonderful save to stop Josh Wright’s deflected effort. He was pretty much redundant after that. 7
Bobby Hassell – Solid as ever defensively but it was a crime he hardly ventured forward. Surely this isn’t how he is used in every away game? 6
Stephen Foster –Forte got past him once and only the post saved The Reds. Foster never let him go again. 7.5
Jason Shackell – So assured and calm. The idea centre-half. Nothing bothered him all game. 8
Luke Potter – Had a shocker, just backed off every time Woolford ran at him. 2
Jim O’Brien – Certainly the best game I’ve seen him have. A lot more involved than usual and tried his hardest to run at the Scunthorpe defenders. 7
Jacob Butterfield – Should never be dropped again. When the ball was played on the floor, he never wasted it. 7
Diego Arismendi – Didn’t really seem to fancy a cold, windy night in Scunthorpe. A few nice touches but didn’t hit the heights we know he can. 6
Adam Hammill – Tried his absolute best and you sometimes feel sorry for him. Has to learn that you cannot take all 11 of the opposition on though. 7
Goran Lovre – A real bizarre selection. Seems to be deemed not good enough for home games- when the onus on to attack as he has played in just two of the four matches at Oakwell, but has featured in every away game so far. He offered nothing last night apart from one wayward effort when well placed. He didn’t seem to know whether he was supposed to be playing in midfield or upfront. 4
Andy Gray – Granted O’Connor was injured but Gray just isn’t the man to lead the line. Beaten in the air every time by Rob Jones and I’m not even sure if he got into the Scunthorpe penalty area all night. 4
Substitutions:
Nathan Doyle (for Hassell 72) You’ve just sat through 72 minutes of absolute dross and then the first change your team makes is to bring Doyle on…. Pass the gun! To be fair it was enforced and he seems to do more as a full-back than a midfielder. New calling maybe! 6
Chris Wood (for Gray 77) A change that was about 77 minutes too late! Worked very hard and twice got beyond the Scunthorpe defence only to be amazingly pulled back for non-existent fouls. 7
Unused: David Preece, Keiran Trippier, Hugo Colace, Jeronimo Neumann, Liam Dickinson.
BarnsleyBoy's Man of the Match: Jason Shackell: Marshalled the defence superbly, which was just as well as we were never going to score.
SCUNTHORPE UNITED: Murphy, Togwell, Jones, Byrne, Woolford, Dagnall, Forte, Mirfin, Wright (O'Connor 72), Collins (Grant 56), Nolan.
Subs: Slocombe, Raynes, Godden, Canavan, McClenahan
Most Impressed by Scunthorpe’s: Martyn Woolford: Was given the freedom of Glanford Park by Potter and will probably feel unlucky he didn’t exploit it more.
Ref Watch: Rob Shoebridge: I think he must have had the whistle taped to his lips and unfortunately every time he breathed it made it whistle. He was blowing every few seconds for absolutely everything! Foul, dive, trip over own feet, empty crisp packet rolling across. Its little wonder the game had no flow. 3
Npower Championship results Tuesday 28th September 2010:
Burnley 4-0 Hull
Cardiff 0-0 Crystal Palace
Coventry 2-1 Doncaster
Derby 3-1 Middlesbrough
Leeds 4-6 Preston
Norwich 4-3 Leicester
Nottingham Forest 1-1 Sheffield United
Portsmouth 3-1 Bristol City
QPR 0-0 Millwall
Reading 1-0 Ipswich
Scunthorpe 0-0 BARNSLEY
Watford 2-3 Swansea
Barnsley lie in 13th place in the Npower Championship with 12 points from 9 games.
We are 3 points off the Play-Offs, 5 points off the Automatic Promotion Places, 11
points off First place and 4 points above the Relegation Zone.
Up to 30.9.10.
Next Up:
At Oakwell:
Npower Championship Matchday Ten: Barnsley v Cardiff City Saturday 2nd October 2010 Kick-Off 3pm
Tickets:
Adults - £22.00
Senior Citizens (Over 60) - £12.00
Juveniles (Under 18) - £12.00
Juveniles (Under 12) - £6.00
Npower Championship Matchday Eleven: Barnsley v Nottingham Forest Saturday 16th October 2010 Kick-Off 3pm
Tickets:
Adults - £25.00
Senior Citizens (Over 60) - £13.00
Juveniles (Under 18) - £13.00
Juveniles (Under 12) - £7.00
On The Road:
Npower Championship Matchday Twelve: Burnley v Barnsley Tuesday 19th October 2010 Kick Off 7:45pm.
Tickets:
Adults - £26.00
Senior Citizens (Over 65) - £15.00
Young Adult (Under 19) - £15.00
Students (With Valid NUS) - £15.00
Juveniles (Under 16) - £12.00
Disabled Supporters - Contact the Box Office For More Information