The inquest starts here I guess. The most obvious thing is to point the finger at Peter Lovenkrands, who dived over Luke Steele's outstretched leg in the 43rd minute with the score at 0-0, or at referee Grant Hegley who because of this handed Steele the first red card of his career. But that would be easy.
Nobody, even the most red-tinted glasses wearing Red, can deny that Barnsley pitched up at St James Park- where Newcastle have not lost since May- looking for a 0-0, and to be honest most, if not all, of the 2,800 who had sold out the away allocation would have been delighted with that result. There is one tiny problem however- if you want to go to a ground like St James Park and face a team like Newcastle who are surely now champions-elect, and get a result, you cannot afford to make mistakes. Despite all the furore of the awarding of the penalty that handed Toon the initiative, it was too pieces of poor defending that saw the first two goals conceded, and effectively ended the game.
The Reds never usually come flying out of the traps in the first half anymore, but did hit two goals in the first 12 minutes of their last away game, at Cardiff. There was no chance of that happening here, with manager Mark Robins bizarrely dropping both Jon Macken and top scorer Daniel Bogdanovic, and playing Andy Gray upfront on his own. The logic was obvious; with Robins hoping his side could replicate the performance this formation produced in the 4-1 win at Preston. Unfortunately that performance has only occurred ONCE with this 4-4-1-1 system and the side have looked increasingly uncomfortable in it.
To their credit, the defensive side worked, with Newcastle failing to create much in the first half, barring Lovenkrands, rounding Steele and slotting home after six minutes, but the linesman’s flag ruled out the effort.
The Reds created only one chance of note in the first half and it was a pretty decent one for Emil Hallfredsson in the 13th minute. Bobby Hassell and Anderson combined to fire the ball across the 18 yard area for the waiting Icelandic international, but he stabbed his effort straight at Steve Harper.
Rather inevitably, Filipe Teixeira was The Reds main attacking threat. His neat turns and surging runs caused minor palpitations for the Newcastle rearguard but due to the incredibly defensive nature, he was often on his own as a bright spark. Still it looked like the gameplan would work up to half time until The Reds were literally robbed by an incredible dive from Lovenkrands.
Carl Dickinson created the real danger however by making a real hash in clearing the ball. The normally reliable full-back tried to take on Fabrice Pancrate, failed and the Frenchman slipped the ball through for Lovenkrands to go one on one with Steele. The keeper flew in with his legs out-stretched, but the Dane went around them and flung himself to the floor! To the amazement and disgust of Steele, referee Hegley – who ironically was last week in charge of Sheffield Wednesday’s 5-0 drubbing at Reading- pointed to the spot and gave Steele the first red card of his professional career.
The writing should have been on the wall the moment David Preece replaced Anderson to go in goal. Preece’s last match for The Reds was the 5-2 hammering at Queens Park Rangers in September when the 33 year old was at fault for at least three goals. His first action at St James Park was to pick the ball out of the net as Lovenkrands picked himself up to net the penalty. It certainly wouldn’t be the last time Preece was delving into the net and question marks have to be labelled against the decision to award him a new contract this week, as he could have done better on a number of occasions. Newcastle had only seven shots on target in the game- six resulted in goals and another hit the post. Out of all the goals, only Jonas Gutierrez’s can be classed as a special strike.
The Reds fell two behind just three minutes into the second half thanks to another defensive mess-up. Stephen Foster shinned a clearance against Andy Carroll, who curled in a fine cross which eluded Ryan Shotton and enabled Lovenkrands to send a header soaring past Preece.
Then it got embarrassing. Lovenkrands danced into the Barnsley area before sliding the ball across the D for Danny Guthrie to fire a low drive in. Preece got down to it incredibly late as the ball flew under his body. Three became four when Gutierrez skipped between poor challenges from Hugo Colace and Teixeira before hitting a stunning effort from 25 yards that flew in off the underside of the crossbar. There was nothing stunning about Newcastle’s fifth however. Guthrie’s free kick from the left hand side of the area, allowed to travel all the way across and into the far corner with Dickinson and Shotton missing their interception and Preece again slow to react. Newcastle finally showed pity on the Reds when they bagged the sixth on 71 minutes. A high ball from the Newcastle defence was flicked over Shotton by Foster and Kevin Nolan nipped in, rounded Preece and tucked the ball into the empty net.
Bogdanovic, who had replaced the ineffective Gray after 63 minutes at least grabbed a consolation with seven minutes remaining. A poor back header from Danny Simpson fell to the Maltese strike who skipped past Fabricio Coloccini and slipped the ball under the advancing Harper.
It was something for the near 3,000 travelling support to take home with them, although the vast majority were not there to see it, with a mass exodus starting after the fourth goal flew in. The last time The Reds took a pounding- at Loftus Road, they responded with three wins in a row. They have back to back home games now and MUST make them count to forget this horror show.
Player Ratings:
Luke Steele: Was not tested in the 41 minutes he was on the pitch. A really harsh sending off, considering Lovenkrands has admitted there was no contact. Hopefully the club can appeal. 6
Carl Dickinson: I’m still wondering who the impostor was at left back on Saturday because I’m sure it wasn’t Carl Dickinson! Had an absolute shocker, contributing to three of the goals. We know he’s MUCH better than this. 2
Stephen Foster: Made mistakes for two of the goals even if he did keep the powerful Carroll quiet. 4
Ryan Shotton: Also has to look at his performance after being badly positioned for the second and fifth goals. It was a bad bad day for the defence. 3
Bobby Hassell: The only defender to emerge with any real credit. Produced a goal-saving header at 0-0, and offered some attacking width in the first half. 6
Felipe Teixeira: Along with Hassell, the only one who seemed keen to get forward. Totally anonymous once the goals started to flood in at the opposite end though. 6.5
Nathan Doyle: Had a very good first half and closed down the Newcastle midfield very well. Could do nothing to stem the tide after the break though. 6
Hugo Colace: Allowed Gutierrez to skip past him for the fourth goal and again offered no protection. Totally perplexed at how he retains his place every week. 4
Emil Hallfredsson: Missed Barnsley’s only chance apart from the goal and offered nothing else. 5
Anderson De Silva: Showed a few nice touches in the first half but was rather harshly withdrawn to allow Preece on. 6
Andy Gray: Whenever Mark Robins opts for just one striker, he tends to pick Gray…. I do not know why. Had no impact in the game whatsoever. 2
Substitutes:
David Preece (for Anderson 43) Could have done better with at least two of the goals. Has now conceded 11 goals in his last two games! 4
Daniel Bogdanovic (for Gray 63) Again proved the man for the road with his ninth goal away from home this season. It was the only time The Reds got near the Newcastle area the entire second half. 7
Jon Macken (for Hallfredsson 63) Probably not surprising that he didn’t have the same impact as Bogdanovic. Couldn’t get into the game. 5
Unused Substitutes:
Luke Potter, Darren Moore, Adam Hammill, Iain Hume.
BarnsleyBoy's Man of the Match: The 1000-odd supporters who stopped right until the very end. Their loyalty should be applauded.
NEWCASTLE UNITED: Harper, Coloccini, Enrique (Kadar 33), Nolan (Taylor 71), Williamson, Guthrie, Lovenkrands, Simpson, Gutierrez, Pancrate, Carroll (Best 71).
Subs: Hall, Butt, Krull, Ranger.
Most Impressed by Newcastle’s: Danny Guthrie: Scored twice and totally outshone our midfield.
Ref Watch: Grant Hegley: Got the one major decision in the game wrong. It cost us. 1
Coca Cola Championship Results Saturday 6th March 2010:
Blackpool 1-0 Ipswich
Bristol City 2-5 Doncaster
Cardiff 1-0 Middlesbrough
Crystal Palace 1-0 Sheffield United
Derby 2-0 Watford
Newcastle 6-1 BARNSLEY
Nottingham Forest 1-0 Swansea
Peterborough 0-1 Coventry
Plymouth 1-1 Preston
QPR 3-1 West Brom
Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 Leicester
Barnsley lie in 11th place in the Coca-Cola Championship with 45 points from 34 games.
We are 7 points off the Play-Offs, 19 points off the Automatic Promotion Places, 27
Points off First place and 8 points above the Relegation Zone.
Up to 8/3/10
Next Up:
At Oakwell:
Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Thirty Five: Barnsley v Crystal Palace Saturday 13th March 2010 Kick-Off: 3pm.
Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Thirty Six: Barnsley v Nottingham Forest Tuesday 16th March 2010 Kick-Off 7:45pm
East Stand and West Stand Upper Tiers
Adults £22.00
OAP/Juvenile £12.00
Juveniles (U12) £6.00
Family Area
Adults £22.00
OAP £13.00
Juvenile £13.00
Juveniles (U12) £7.00
East Stand Lower and West Stand Lower
Adults £21.00
OAP/Juveniles £12.00
Juveniles (U12) £6.00
CK Beckett Stand (Pontefract Road End)
Adults £20.00
OAP/Juveniles £12.00
Juveniles (U12) £6.00
All Disabled Areas £20.00
Helpers FREE OF CHARGE
Please note that Juvenile U12 tickets must be purchased in advance from the Oakwell Box Office and this price will not be on sale on the turnstiles under any circumstances.
On The Road:
Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Thirty Seven: Ipswich Town v Barnsley Saturday 20th March 2010 Kick-Off 3pm.
Tickets:
ADULTS - £31.00
SENIOR CITIZENS (OVER 60) - £22.00
STUDENTS (FULL TIME AND NUS*) - £22.00
YOUNG ADULT (16-19 YEARS) - £22.00
JUVENILES (UNDER 16) - £11.00
* Please note that a valid NUS card must be shown at the turnstiles.
Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Thirty Eight: Bristol City v Barnsley Tuesday 23rd March 2010 Kick-Off 7:45pm
ADULTS - £25.00
SENIOR CITIZENS (OVER 65) - £20.00
STUDENTS (FULL TIME AND NUS*) - £15.00
JUVENILES (UNDER 16) - £10.00
* Please note that a valid NUS card must be shown at the turnstiles.