Barnsley v Sheffield Wednesday

[goldandblack]

WOW, that worked out well, now you can aim for auto promotion,

[BLUEBLOOD]

4-2

[number 9]

Not surprised Plymouth won, I mean it’s AS Lancashire not the champions league

[BLUEBLOOD]

Good job we are playing them in late April now...

[Charnwood]

4-2 now, I’m with you BB defo worth avoiding them at the mo although it works both ways as our form is pretty decent too.

[Charnwood]

I can see this going to the wire with Barnsley definitely having their eyes set on one of the automatic places.

Barnsley commentary team also thinking the postponement v Town a good outcome to give them a chance to recover from tonight’s game which was pretty draining mentally and physically.

7 wins from their last 8 played and 12 undefeated is pretty impressive.

[Shed on tour]

I can see this going to the wire with Barnsley definitely having their eyes set on one of the automatic places.

Barnsley commentary team also thinking the postponement v Town a good outcome to give them a chance to recover from tonight’s game which was pretty draining mentally and physically.

7 wins from their last 8 played and 12 undefeated is pretty impressive.

Even more impressive when you see the sides they have beaten during that run. Last 3 games they have beaten Wednesday and Plymouth at home and Wycombe away.

[Charnwood]

Unanimous predictions on the Sky Sports EFL programme tonight;
Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich for the automatic promotion places, let’s hope they have it right.

[valleyroad]

Its all about what Ipswich do.
Business end of the season and need to keep winning football matches.
In a great position and every chance of going up.
For me on their day Ipswich are the best side in this league and now need to go an prove it

[Charnwood]

That just about sums up what the Sky Sports pundits said VR. Great manager with the most experienced and better equipped squad to deal with the pressure and in their best form of thd season just at the right time.

One thing for sure it’s most definitely a 4 horse race.

[arana peligrosa]

Two sh*t scores in essence. Barnsley are the most dangerous of all teams directly behind and it's essential they lose / drop points at any opportunity. I don't feasibly expect to catch SWFC, all right they had a loss out of how many other fixtures but they're too robust to imagine they'll just part like the Red Sea after today.

Plymouth winning was another lousy score. The two leading contenders are a f**king nuisance. We play well ourselves, win games regular, top league scorers and really making a go of it but incessantly blocked by the two above. Say again it'll be a travesty if we don't make it. Forget the others for a moment, I believe at regular times this season we've been the best team in the division. Just haven't quite had the momentum of some others to really see it through.

[Andym]

Two sh*t scores in essence. Barnsley are the most dangerous of all teams directly behind and it's essential they lose / drop points at any opportunity. I don't feasibly expect to catch SWFC, all right they had a loss out of how many other fixtures but they're too robust to imagine they'll just part like the Red Sea after today.

Plymouth winning was another lousy score. The two leading contenders are a f**king nuisance. We play well ourselves, win games regular, top league scorers and really making a go of it but incessantly blocked by the two above. Say again it'll be a travesty if we don't make it. Forget the others for a moment, I believe at regular times this season we've been the best team in the division. Just haven't quite had the momentum of some others to really see it through.

I think that’s all true. I think we have an excellent team who, on their day, can beat anyone in the league. But the blip in results have left us playing catch up and I honestly can’t see us making top two. If we were going to catch anyone it was going to be Plymouth, but even if we did I’m not convinced that Barnsley won’t pass both of us.

[Blue Wilf]

Well its the old adage of 'every game is a cup final' because for us, it just is. Any slip ups and we can forget automatic but keep winning and they are very much a possibility. All those draws and the points that passed us by (late deflected shot at home v Plymouth etc) are proving the difference between top 2 and shredded playoff fingernails!! I am keeping the faith but its hard...

[Bluemike]

Win nearly every game and we'll go up, can probably afford to fail to win Two, but one draw one defeat maybe. There is plenty of twists and turns to come.

[Ricco]

Win nearly every game and we'll go up, can probably afford to fail to win Two, but one draw one defeat maybe. There is plenty of twists and turns to come.

That's how I see it Mike, which is crazy, because that's 97pts and if you look back at the past 10 full seasons, 90pts would get you up every year, mid 80s would usually do it and even 80pts would get you up in 2 or 3 of the seasons.

Just going to be one of those years I think, could see 4 teams finish in the 90s, which would be silly, Wednesday had been on course to breeze over 100 too.

[Charnwood]

I still can’t see how anyone can think Barnsley’s win against The Owls last night was a sh*t result for us. Had Wednesday have won as they could so easily have done given all the chances they had they would have gone 6 points clear of us with a game in hand with Plymouth 5 points clear in 2nd having played one game more than us. Surely with Barnsley winning Town stay in touch with both teams above us. Yes of course Barnsley can draw level on points with us but our superior goal difference is worth another point and we still have to play them which puts us in control of our own destiny as far as they are concerne. A win would be worth 6 points and even a draw keeps us ahead of them. As long as we can match them on points won it’s still advantage Town as long as we can maintain our current form. Whilst Barnsley could present us with a problem our main focus has to be catching one of the two teams above us not worrying about anyone from behind.
Come next Wednesday evening the table will look different again with Barnsley playing at Exeter on Monday night and Wednesday playing at Forest Green and Cheltenham on Sunday and Wednesday which means come the end of the month Plymouth and Wednesday will have both played 38 and Barnsley and ourselves 37 leaving us knowing exactly what needs to be done. Worst case scenario the Top 2 could be 9 and 5 points ahead of us having played one more game.
Which ever way you look at it we need to keep our run going and do no worse than Barnsley, whilst either Plymouth or Wednesday need to continue dropping points as they each have in their last 3 games. We are of course the only team not to have dropped a point in our last 6 games or for that matter even concede a goal.
One thing for sure this is far from over and the twists and turns still to come will be far from predictable.

[Bluemike]

Absolutely spot on Andy, it was crucial Wednesday lost last night if Plymouth won, it was what we needed.

[Charnwood]

Absolutely spot on Andy, it was crucial Wednesday lost last night if Plymouth won, it was what we needed.

In my opinion it’s pretty simple maths really as once the two above us pull out of sight our season is over apart from the Play Offs, and of the Top 4 Barnsley are the only side we have to still play and therefore have any control over.

[Ricco]

I would have rather seen Wednesday win. Yes they've had a small hiccup, but they're better than Plymouth and I think they're already up, bookies agree. In my opinion we're fighting for 2nd with Plymouth and Barnsley now. Had Barnsley lost, we could lose to them and still go up if Plymouth falter, now we have to win or very least draw.

We're more likely to be pipped by Barnsley to second than Wednesday to drop below us and Plymouth (in my opinion, and the bookies).

Team need to focus on themselves though, keep this form going and we're promoted, we can't control others unless we focus on games against them, but Town should be 100% every game at this point anyway.

[number 9]

A bit off topic, but is the current clean sheet record a team or all time record?

[shabba]

I would have rather seen Wednesday win. Yes they've had a small hiccup, but they're better than Plymouth and I think they're already up, bookies agree. In my opinion we're fighting for 2nd with Plymouth and Barnsley now. Had Barnsley lost, we could lose to them and still go up if Plymouth falter, now we have to win or very least draw.

We're more likely to be pipped by Barnsley to second than Wednesday to drop below us and Plymouth (in my opinion, and the bookies).

Team need to focus on themselves though, keep this form going and we're promoted, we can't control others unless we focus on games against them, but Town should be 100% every game at this point anyway.

I totally agree with this. Coming away from that Barnsley fixture with any points looks a challenge. I know we have been very good of late but Bolton aside we haven’t had any real tests.

[number 9]

A bit off topic, but is the current clean sheet record a team or all time record?

Back to my question. Can anyone answer this?…anyone?

[hallamblue]

I think it’s this team’s record .

[hallamblue]

I would have rather seen Wednesday win. Yes they've had a small hiccup, but they're better than Plymouth and I think they're already up, bookies agree. In my opinion we're fighting for 2nd with Plymouth and Barnsley now. Had Barnsley lost, we could lose to them and still go up if Plymouth falter, now we have to win or very least draw.

We're more likely to be pipped by Barnsley to second than Wednesday to drop below us and Plymouth (in my opinion, and the bookies).

Team need to focus on themselves though, keep this form going and we're promoted, we can't control others unless we focus on games against them, but Town should be 100% every game at this point anyway.

I totally agree with this. Coming away from that Barnsley fixture with any points looks a challenge. I know we have been very good of late but Bolton aside we haven’t had any real tests.

Well we have faced those challenges recently both st home and both times we failed to take all 3 points. ( vs Sheffield and Plymouth) So that’s why we’re 3rd in my view.

[number 9]

It’s not rocket science we have to win every game. I’m tired of all the hyperbole. It doesn’t matter if we don’t make automatic promotion, we still have to win. We have to win…win…win. f*ck off SW, Plymouth, Barnsley…we have to win!

[Charnwood]

I would have rather seen Wednesday win. Yes they've had a small hiccup, but they're better than Plymouth and I think they're already up, bookies agree. In my opinion we're fighting for 2nd with Plymouth and Barnsley now. Had Barnsley lost, we could lose to them and still go up if Plymouth falter, now we have to win or very least draw.

We're more likely to be pipped by Barnsley to second than Wednesday to drop below us and Plymouth (in my opinion, and the bookies).

Team need to focus on themselves though, keep this form going and we're promoted, we can't control others unless we focus on games against them, but Town should be 100% every game at this point anyway.

I totally agree with this. Coming away from that Barnsley fixture with any points looks a challenge. I know we have been very good of late but Bolton aside we haven’t had any real tests.

I don’t know how many of you watched the Barnsley v Wednesday game last night but Barnsley certainly didn’t look unbeatable to me. They rode their luck and Wednesday missed a hatful of good chances to have put the game out of Barnsley’s reach after drawing level at 2-2.
The Tykes won that through sheer youthful excitement and inexperience with a bunch of loanee’s and freebies. If we take our chances there is absolutely no reason why they can’t be beaten. There also seems to be an assumption that Town are the only one of the Top 4 likely to drop points in the run in and that simply won’t be the case. Wednesday have now dropped 4 points from a possible 6 in their last two games and Plymouth lost two of their last 6 games. Wednesday also have only 4 of their final 10 games at home.
It’s highly unlikely any of the 4 teams chasing the two automatic places will win all their games, it just won’t happen yet some on here seem to expect only Town to drop points on the final run in which is bizarre. Actually if you look at our squad and current form we are probably the strongest and best equipped team to deal with the pressures of the run in. Yes Barnsley’s current form looks good but it’s no better than ours and their team is a collection of young freebies and loan signings with an average age of 23 and a total spend of £20k on new players so why don’t we think we’re not capable of winning against them.
I bet Plymouth, Wednesday and Barnsley fans don’t expect failure in the same way our fans do at Ipswich yet on my opinion we have probably the most experienced squad of players of the 4 top teams yet the most negative fans the lowest expectation.
Ok, at the end of the day we might not make it but for Christ sake start believing in the team.

[number 9]

Well however you look at it, we need to win every game. That’s a lot to ask, so I hope other teams drop points

[Charnwood]

A bit off topic, but is the current clean sheet record a team or all time record?

Back to my question. Can anyone answer this?…anyone?

To answer your question 9 it’s a new Club record beating the previous Club record also set by Keiron McKenna in Jan/Feb 2022.

I think it’s set in minutes not matches and now stands at something like 596 minutes without conceding. The previous record was 592 mins.

[Bluemike]

I'm with you all the way Andy, I struggle to understand it at times too.

[marko69]

It’s not rocket science we have to win every game. I’m tired of all the hyperbole. It doesn’t matter if we don’t make automatic promotion, we still have to win. We have to win…win…win. f*ck off SW, Plymouth, Barnsley…we have to win!

AND ….. relax!

I read that post in a “kevin” voice from Harry Enfields Kevin & Perry.