Post
by Bluemike » Sat Mar 11, 2017 11:21 pm
So we stretch our unbeaten run to Eight games or equally our winless run to Six games, in truth it was a case of snatching an unlikely draw from the jaws of defeat as Town again huffed and puffed with little attacking threat, apart from Two or Three efforts that is and of course the final move of the match that finally saw us undo a stubborn Barnsley defence.
It was a very even start to the game with both sides having half chances, Berra with a weak header before Bart gathered a routine shot from a Barnsley player. The game was only around Ten minutes old when Barnsley squandered a glorious chance to go ahead, a cross from the right found it's way to Armstrong at the back post who contrived to put his header over the bar from a few yards out when he looked odds on to score, it was a real let off for Town. Not long after that Town too missed a great chance to open the scoring, Didsy doing well to find space before letting fly with a shot that the keeper saved well but from the rebound Skuse looked a cert to score but the keeper again somehow made the save and the chance was gone. From here on in the remainder of the half was really a case of Barnsley creating One or Two good chances which they put high and wide without testing Bart while Town were looking to catch them on the break, Didsy again having a half chance that came to nothing. The half was pretty even to be fair, young Kenlock had caught my eye with a solid display at Left Wing back while Diagouraga had won a lot of ball in the middle and was always looking to play a forward pass, Berra too had had a decent enough 45 minutes but Town really lacked a real cutting edge.
The second half was a big disappointed for the most part, Barnsley came out on the front foot and were looking to take the game to us while we appeared happy to soak up what they were throwing at us with an over cautious approach once more. Bart was called upon to make a save from a long range shot but again it was quite comfortable for him. By now Diagouraga who was on a yellow had been replaced by Grant Ward who tried his luck from distance but it was well wide. From a rare passage of Town attacking play we somehow let them surge up the field and take the lead, with Two defenders chasing back and Bart coming out it was left to Town target Marley Watkins to keep his cool and finish nicely. Our reaction to the goal was very disappointing as we looked so laboured and resigned to our fate, everything we did lacked any urgency where as Barnsley were sensing victory and continued to look to go forward, Sears was on as we switched formation but little changed. Moving into the final few minutes Bart made a good save to keep it at 1-0 when they should really have put the game to bed, and despite us getting forward once or twice we still looked so bereft of ideas around their box. With time running out you just sensed it wasn't going to be our day but incredibly with virtually the last kick of the match we salvaged a precious point, a fantastic ball to the far post from sub Brett Pitman took out the whole Barnsley defence and charging in was that man again Tom Lawrence to tap home from no more than a couple of yards, cue wild celebrations right in front of the Town fans, it was so unexpected that it really did feel like a win given how ordinary we had been for much of the second half.
Bart (6) Spence (5) Chambers (6) Berra (7) Knudsen (5) Kenlock (6) Diagouraga (6) Skuse (5) Huws (6) McGoldrick (6) Lawrence (6) SUBS :- Ward (6) Sears (5) Pitman (6)
For the Third game running it wasn't great by any means, there wasn't much in the first half and we had as much of the play and chances as they did, however I was disappointed with our approach second half, even when we went behind we didn't seem to be busting a gut to get back into it, too many 50/50 ballls were being won by the team in Red and they seemed to break so much quicker than we did, we were slow and pedestrian compared to their direct and fast running, all too often we play ourselves into trouble by going sideways and up blind alleys which forces us to back track back to where we started from. I really am sick to death of Knudsen's long throws, every single one is won by our opponents and invariably we are suddenly forced to defend when we should be benefitting from them, add to that the kicking of Bart is doing my bloody head in, we lose possession every sodding time as they always go into touch.
We have to be happy with a point given how the game panned out but March is proving far less satisfying than our impressive February, we seem to have gone backwards again although it is to our credit that despite playing poorly we kept going and somehow found an unexpected goal, I fancied us to get beat today, as did many others, so from that point of view it could be a valuable point. we have another tough away game at Cardiff next week and already I would be more than happy to be travelling back with another point for our troubles.
Last edited by
Bluemike on Sun Mar 12, 2017 12:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
