While a draw away from home is never exactly a bad result - especially at a ground where we have such a bad historical record as Oakwell - this was two points lost rather than one gained. As at Watford, we never quite succeeded in turning possession into chances. As at KK Man City, we never made the most of the clear cut chances that did come our way.
A good number of London Clarets made the trip to South Yorkshire, perhaps inspired by the novelty of a trip to a Saturday afternoon away game outside London - the first such since Coventry in November! The substantial police presence at St Pancras was not, however, on our behalf. Millwall were away at Forest, and it's obviously one of a handful of games those loveable geezers travel to. The concourse at St Pancras was therefore awash with baseball caps, Hackett tops and carrier bags full of lager. But at least most of them weren't on our train. The journey north was uneventful to the point of boring, enlivened only by the telephone news that some of us had got off the mark in the 2002 Dead Pool.
A crawl of some substance through towns between Sheffield and Barnsley had been planned, but we reckoned without the intervention of Arriva (?) Trains Northern and their famed staff shortages. Consequently we spent too much time in a place called Chapeltown. Finally we made Barnsley and, via the world's most crowded pub, the ground. There was another good Clarets following, and once we'd got past the enforced minute's silence for someone who had no connection with football, the game could begin.
Changes from Watford saw Cox coming back in, Ball moving back into midfield, and Briscoe going back to left back. In other words, as you were. Whipping boy Di Branchio wasn't even on the bench, where sat potentially record signing Blake and returning Alan Moore, alongside the current usual suspects. It was windy, the sun was in our eyes, and the pies were disgusting.
After our stirring recovery at Watford, hopes were high and the crowd was ready to cheer another good performance, but we started badly. Barnsley had the ball in the net within minutes, headed in by Sheron from the rebound after we failed to clear a shot. Fortunately, it was given offside (cue a premature burst of goal music), but the let off didn't last long. A few minutes later they scored from a long range free kick. Although it was well-taken and accurate kick, I still felt it was a soft goal. Perhaps the wall wasn't right, but Marlon left them with a lot of his goal to aim at, and couldn't quite get across to the ball, which curled just inside the post.
So, here was a challenge. Barnsley are having a good run, albeit one mostly of draws, having shirked big name appointments and put a non-famous, competent manager in charge. They can be regarded as a team in form. How would we cope with our set-back? Pretty well, as it turned out. A couple of weeks ago we might have bellied up, but there are signs that we're pulling ourselves back together. After their goal, we started playing.
Problem was, while we had all the ball, we didn't have the shots to go with it. This is a very Burnley thing to do at the moment, and it's a worry. Coming out of a match we might have won, I always ask myself how many times the goalkeeper was forced to make a save. That's a sign that you're doing things right. Here, the answer was not often enough. We came forward brightly, passed and ran intelligently, and forced many corners. Gareth Taylor got a couple of headers in, and Barnsley were not averse to a last ditch clearance or two, coming close to an own goal with one wild attempt to get the ball away. But the bottom line was, where were the shots?
On the positive side, I thought Ian Moore was the pick of our players early on. Perhaps the presence of Blake on the bench had something to do with this. He found some good positions and looked less isolated than recently. He was helped by the fact that the midfield, for once, looked inclined to support the attack. I can't remember the last time I saw Ball coming forward so often. He even had a chance or two, and a kick in the head, that the referee didn't see fit to penalise with anything more than a free kick, naturally didn't deter him. I expect he enjoys the responsibility of captaining the side, and he seems more suited to this than the introvert Cox.
Briscoe took the free kick from the foul on Ball, and it cleared the bar by some distance. Briscoe took a good free kick at Watford, from which Cox scored, so will presumably take all the free kicks for the next two years. Steve Davis scored from a free kick at Millwall once, and after that took about a hundred dodgy free kicks.
It was good to see the Little / Weller / West combination at work again, too. Early on in the season, much of our success came from Little and Weller joining together in midfield and attack, while West is good at providing back up for Little's runs, and an outlet when Little is crowded out. The only weak link in a strong and positive midfield was Grant, again. After a bright start, he has lost his way. Once again he seemed unable to keep pace with the game. Has he ever played well alongside Ball?
Still, while we played well overall, we worried as the half went on and Barnsley kept their lead. Worst moment was when Taylor completely forgot he was a striker. A good move saw him with the ball in a shooting position, but he tried to lay it off and the ball was lost. If you call yourself a striker, you have to shoot when the moment comes.
Finally we got the goal we deserved. Briscoe's cross was excellent, putting it on a plate for Taylor, unmarked and in front of goal. I suppose even he couldn't think of knocking it on for someone else to take responsibility, and so he did the simple thing and scored. Another header!
At half time we were treated to a series of local radio style adverts played incredibly loud.
The second half was scrappier and, in its early stages, quite evenly contested. We started with Alan Moore, returning from a briefer than normal injury, replacing Grant, which was fair enough. Stan would say after the match that Grant had a knock. But of course! Under Stan, players are always taken off because they have knocks. No player is substituted for being no good. As a bonus, Alan Moore looked bright and got involved in some good moves forward.
As it happened, Barnsley again got the ball in the net. Morgan headed home from a corner, but was penalised for using Cox as a stepladder. Play was frustrating after that. Barnsley's keeper Miller had clearly been timewasting even at 1-0, and now they showed themselves adept at halting our momentum, aided by a pedantic referee who was always happy to slow down play. A succession of injuries were deemed sufficiently serious to let the physio onto the pitch. He spent so long on there, he may have qualified for an appearance bonus. Often in the second half they would go down, the physio would run on, and our head of steam would dissipate into the cooling, darkening air. By the end, he might as well have stayed on full time. It would have saved us time at least. Meanwhile, the ref was taking throw ins terribly seriously, which is something I think most of us want to see, if we're going to get value for our sixteen quid.
That said, at least he moved one free kick forward for dissent, something you don't see that often. Briscoe's effort was better this time. The goalkeeper had to save it.
Barnsley used the wind to get the ball into our box as quickly as possible. This should not have caused problems, but Gnohere was having a terrible game. I feel a little sorry for him. Davis' long term injury has seen Arthur playing many more games than anyone would have expected, and after some superb performances, it looks like tiredness has coincided with a dip in form. He looked vulnerable here. His desire to play the ball at all times is heartening, but here, under pressure, there were moments when he needed to belt the thing away. His worst point came when he was trying to shepherd a long ball out of play, but was careless enough to be robbed.
Ian Moore was taken off as usual, to well-deserved applause, Blake replacing him. Blake never got into the game. I hope it's just lack of fitness that's holding him back at the moment, as he has to be better than what we've seen so far for us to have signed him. He seemed to want too much time on the ball and too many touches. In a game played at a fast pace in a strong wind, he couldn't get away with it. Indeed, in general the team seemed to want to take too many touches to be effective. Early in the season, when they were on the top of their game, the team often moved the ball around quickly, taking few touches to create chances. Our hesitancy in the significant part of the pitch demonstrates that, while we are clearly pulling out of our slump, we're not quite there yet.
We finished the second half as we finished the first, going for a win as Barnsley retreated for a draw, prompted by the excellent Weller. After the best of Briscoe's free kicks - the goalkeeper pushed it away and then saved the rebound - we had two great chances to win it. Sadly, we didn't make the most of either. Brad Maylett was on by now, replacing a presumably tired Little. Unexpectedly, he got down the wing, beat his man and played in a great ball to Alan Moore. With any kind of power on the shot, it would have been a goal. It was hard to see, because it was down the far end, but Moore either tried to place it or fluffed it completely. Whichever way, it was a chance he should have buried. He has the talent, but does he have the application?
The second missed chance came with injury time looming. Briscoe produced another fine cross, and this time it was Ball's head he found. Ball placed his free header straight at the goalkeeper's hands. Anywhere else and it was in. It was agonising. No one would describe Ball as an attacking player, but a textbook header down towards a corner of the net would have been a match winner.
Game over, we departed to an all too brief drinking session in Sheffield and a more relaxed evening in London. Most people seemed to be pleased with the performance, if not the result. We really ought to have won this one.
Is a draw a good result? It depends what we're aiming at. After the January slump, four points from two away games isn't bad. If we're chasing a play-off place, this was a good away point. If we still have hopes of an automatic promotion spot, however, this was two points less than we needed. Perhaps the play-offs are a realistic goal. But having been top for a significant time, isn't it a bit disappointing that we can only now really hope for the play-offs?
Scorers: Taylor (37) / Barnard (5).
Crowd: 14,411.
Referee: R J Beeby (Northampton).
Firmo's Man of the Match: Paul Weller.
Supply and Demand