A preview of Barnsley's home game with Stevenage from 3pm.
LIKELY LINE-UPS:
TEAM NEWS
Barnsley: Out: Fabio Jalo (shoulder). Doubts: Davis Keillor-Dunn (ankle), Barry Cotter. Stevenage: Suspended: Louis Thompson. Doubts: Jake Foster-Caskey (knee), Dan Butler.
PREVIOUS MEETINGS
Reds 2, Boro 1 – December 23, 2023
Barnsley, as they were doing often last season, started slowly and fell behind. Luther Wildin’s shot in the fourth minute bounced in off Liam Roberts then Jordan Roberts should have made it 2-0 to the visitors but missed a huge one-on-one chance. John McAtee levelled with a superb lob then Herbie Kane marked his 100th Barnsley appearance with a deflected winner.
Boro 3, Reds 0 – September 14, 2024
Darrell Clarke shouldered the blame for this second half collapse. After coming in at 0-0 to a ‘chaotic’ half-time in which Donovan Pines could not find a replacement contact lens but was eventually found to be suffering from concussion after a nasty blow to the head. Clarke brought Corey O’Keeffe on for the American and Max Watters for Barry Cotter at the break, changing to a back four. Elliot List and Carl Piergianni scored early in the second half then List added another on 89 minutes.
OPPOSITION VIEW
Neil Metcalfe, Herts Live
Defensively Boro have been excellent this season. They’ve only conceded 22 in their 24 league games and have managed 13 clean sheets in those, the one against Orient on Tuesday night in the Vertu Trophy making it 16 out of 32 in total.
And they haven’t conceded in the last five away games, three in the league and two in the EFL Trophy.
It’s the other end that has been the problem with just 19 scored in the league and 29 across all competitions – those last three away games in League One all ended 0-0.
There were signs, though, against Orient of them getting better in the attacking areas but I would expect another solid defensive display. More improvement up front would be a bonus.
KEY PLAYER
Murphy Cooper
The goalkeeper has kept 13 clean sheets this season, which is the most in League One.
Cooper, 23, is on loan from Queens Park Rangers whose academy he came through but who have sent him out on several loans at various levels.
Defender Nathan Thompson has also impressed, starting the season as fifth choice centre-back but being one of the best performers so far. In attack, Dan Kemp is the top-scorer with five goals while Elliot List has four. List scored twice against the Reds in September, and a fifth of his 15 League One career goals have been against Barnsley.
