Analysis of Barnsley's 1-1 draw at home to Stockport County on Saturday evening. Adam Phillips' early penalty was cancelled out in injury-time.
REDS CONTINUE STUTTERING START
There was a successful marriage proposal in the stands at half-time in this match but the union of Barnsley and their home fans is, while not totally loveless, certainly still experiencing a prolonged rocky patch.
Although they were minutes away from a third straight win there in all competitions, this draw meant the Reds have won just one home league game since February and had taken five points from their first four Oakwell matches this season.
While being in the top six with 14 points from eight games is a good early platform, the performances in general this season are nowhere near as reassuring.
The Reds played well for the first five minutes on a cold Saturday night - in which they took the lead and missed a big chance for 2-0 – then were poor for the remainder of the game.
They did not seem to have a coherent plan in attack or know how to manage going 1-0 up so early, problems very reminiscent of the Neill Collins era.
As well as that, they gifted Stockport the ball in dangerous areas many times with loose passes or by being caught in possession.
Barnsley actually defended their box well when it was attacked, but they could have made that happen a lot less often if they had more control of the ball and stopped making silly errors.
The likes of Mael de Gevigney and Josh Earl lost the ball on several occasions in their half with really sloppy play – while the midfield in front of them was often incapable of keeping hold of possession, and the attackers starved of the ball.
The system of playing two attacking midfielders behind a striker was not effective, and it wasn’t in the previous game at Burton.
Stockport won League Two last season and, along with Wrexham, are expected to challenge for promotion again. They arrived at Oakwell – for a first meeting with Barnsley in nearly two decades – winless in three league games while they had lost 4-1 at home to Leyton Orient in the previous game, but were yet to lose away this season in all competitions. They were the better side overall and will feel they should have won.
The Reds have scored nine and conceded three in the first halves of league games this season but, in the second half, they have scored four and conceded eight.
LATE DEFLECTED LEVELLER TOUGH TO TAKE
Despite all of that, conceding in the 92nd-minute winner to a deflected goal is a cruel way to drop two points.
Louie Barry’s first shot hit his own player – ex-Red Callum Connolly who registered a bizarre assist – then his second struck the ankle of Corey O’Keeffe before trickling into the bottom left corner past the wrong-footed Gaga Slonina.
It was particularly harsh on some good performers within the generally disappointing team effort.
Marc Roberts made eight clearances and seemed to be on the end of nearly every cross and pass into the Reds box, producing probably his best individual display since returning for a second spell.
Goalkeeper Slonina certainly enjoyed his best league game at Oakwell, having gifted the opponents goals in his previous two. This time he made some impressive saves, mainly a double stop on the stroke of half-time.
O’Keeffe made an impact on the attack, following up his assist at Burton with the key pass in the move for the penalty then putting fellow wing-back Barry Cotter clean through on goal on 70 minutes. But the Irishman blazed across goal and high when he could have squared to Aiden Marsh. That could have killed the game for the Reds.
TRIPLE CHANGE DOES NOT HAVE DESIRED IMPACT
Clarke made a triple change just before the hour-mark, taking off Stephen Humphrys, Davis Keillor-Dunn and Matty Craig for Sam Cosgrove, Marsh and Josh Benson.
The head coach said his side lacked energy early in the second half, and pointed to Humphrys’ lack of gametime plus the fact Keillor-Dunn had missed training due to his partner having a baby. Humphrys – rewarded for his match-winner at Burton with a first Reds start on his home debut in place of Cosgrove – won six headers but completed just three passes all game. Keillor-Dunn faded after a good start which saw him win the penalty while Craig – despite making the most tackles – had been one of the main culprits of giving the ball away.
The triple change did not make Barnsley particularly worse – they had been on the back foot since the opening five minutes anyway – but it certainly did not stem the tide in the way Clarke hoped.
Benson, although some of his passing was very good, should have hammered the ball down the pitch after Slonina punched a cross away following a corner. Instead he lost it and it was recycled by two Stockport substitutes Jayden Fevrier and Jack Diamond before the pull-back found Barry to level.
Cosgrove and Marsh, while they struggled to trouble the visiting defence for the most part, did combine late on for a big penalty shout on another sub Kyran Lofthouse which, if given, would have totally altered the narrative on substitutes.
TALE OF TWO PENALTIES
Barnsley were given one penalty three minutes into the match but felt they should have had another after 96.
The first saw Keillor-Dunn tripped by Tyler Onyango after an excellent outside of the foot square pass by O’Keeffe following a fine run out of defence and forward pass by Earl. Adam Phillips made no mistake from the spot to move onto five goals in the first eight league games, a mightily impressive tally for a midfielder and someone who did not score until at least November in his previous two seasons.
Stockport were rocking at that point and a simple fifth-minute long ball by Earl put Humphries clean through but ex-Red Corey Addai made a fine one-on-one save, with the referee appearing to give a foul by Humphrys on a defender anyway.
But, from that point on, Barnsley were flat and uninspiring with Stockport the better side, deserving to level in injury-time.
There was still more penalty drama, though, when Marsh brought the ball down impressively in the box and found Cosgrove whose low cross looked set to be tapped in by Lofthouse for his first Barnsley goal but the ball whizzed past him as he was crashed into by Ibou Touray. Clarke said afterwards it was a ‘stonewall penalty’ but referee Declan Bourne declined to give them a second spot-kick, which would probably have been taken by Luca Connell as Phillips had gone off for Lofthouse minutes earlier. Stockport also thought they could have had a penalty, at 1-0, when Marsh tangled with Lewis Fiorini in the box. Stockport coach Andy Mangan – who was denied a move to Real Madrid earlier in September due to a work permit problem – was sent off for something he said after the equaliser.
SATURDAY NIGHT NOT ALRIGHT FOR MANY FANS
Saturday evening has never been a traditional time slot for English football and this game did little to convince that it should be a regular occurrence.
Sky’s increased coverage of the EFL may be pumping more money into clubs but it is also moving fixtures all around the weekend. That makes planning for and getting to games more difficult for supporters who, despite efforts made to announce changes early, are again not the priority for the cash-hungry authorities.
Both sets of fans sang foul-mouthed songs against Sky throughout the match.
With respect, there are probably not many people desperate to watch Barnsley against Stockport on TV other than fans of those clubs, and the game is unlikely to have given Strictly Come Dancing or The Voice competition for the largest share of the TV audience.
It was still the biggest attendance of the season at Oakwell and the home fans were fairly noisy, until the frustrating performance quietened many of the supporters as well.
