Town travel to South Yorkshire tomorrow to take on Barnsley having not faced the Tykes since we were beaten 3-1 in a disappointing second leg of the League One Playoffs back in May 2006. Despite winning the first leg 1-0 at Oakwell we never really looked up for it at The Galpharm and three second half goals in the space of 20 minutes sent Barnsley to the Millennium Stadium. They would beat Swansea City on penalties to secure promotion to The Championship, the hero that day being Nick Colgan who is now the goalkeeping coach at our academy.
Since winning promotion that day Barnsley have remained in The Championship, surviving season after season despite constantly being tipped for the drop. They currently sit 21st in the league table (the same position they finished in last season) and head into this weekends clash having lost their last three matches, winning only once in their last seven outings. Despite not being in great form the Tykes will see this weekend as the perfect chance to get back on winning ways - a feisty local derby against a team who've lost their last two away games convincingly against struggling teams.
Barnsley gaffer Keith Hill had hoped to have a new striker in his squad for tomorrows match, but is as yet to succeed in bringing in any targets. Reading front man Simon Church was a long-time target but Hill will have to set his team up to defend against the Welsh international who signed on loan for us yesterday. With Mido and top goalscorer Craig Davies still out with injuries Hill will have to choose from Chris Dagnall, Marlon Harewood and academy product Danny Rose up front. Town on the other hand will be without James Vaughan but could welcome back Jermaine Beckford into contention alongside Church, Alan Lee and midweek hero Lee Novak.
Town played a 4-5-1 system midweek against Blackburn Rovers who are very strong in the middle of the park with Dickson Etuhu, Danny Murphy and Ruben Rochina. However, Barnsley are unable to boast such quality and I'd like to see us start with two front men in an attempt to get at the opposition and take three points from the match. Lee Novak has more than likely earned his place in the team if he's fit and either Church or Beckford could play up front alongside him with Alan Lee remaining a good option from the bench.
However, it's in the midfield where I'd like to see a big decision made. Oliver Norwood made himself a hero almost overnight upon his arrival from Manchester United in the summer. He started the season very well and impressed with his set-piece deliveries but in recent weeks has been consistently poor, outshone by both Keith Southern and Adam Clayton.
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| Norwood gained admirers with his early season form but has been below par recently |
If we stick with a five man midfield then I'd like to see Scott Arfield given a chance who did nothing wrong in his one league start against Cardiff City, but my preference would be for Norwood to make way for another forward. Southern and Clayton offer plenty of battle in the middle of the park while in the last few matches Clayton has shown he can be just as creative as Northern Ireland international Norwood. There's no doubting Oliver has a lot to offer and is a key part of our squad, but his recent performances for me have earned him a place on the bench.
Out wide we have options with Danny Ward, Sean Scannell and Adam Hammill, while Clayton or Arfield could perform the more industrious wide midfielder role if needed. I'd go with pace down the flanks to get at Barnsley - Scannell deserves a run in the team to see what he can do while Ward was impressive in his 30 minute appearance from the bench on Tuesday. Hammill has the potential to be a top player at this level with his obvious technical ability but he's too often infuriating with his tendency to try silly tricks instead of getting a shot away or a cross into the box.
At the back Jack Hunt has to come back into the team to replace Callum Woods who has been badly exposed in recent weeks. Paul Dixon remains our best option on the left side of defence while Peter Clarke should captain the side alongside Joel Lynch who makes the back four look much more solid with his presence. Alex Smithies will maintain his 100% appearance record between the sticks this season, meaning my starting eleven would be as below:
Barnsley have a reputation for being one of our bogey teams, but our overall record against them isn't too bad. Out of 58 league matches between the two clubs we've won 26 compared to their 21, with 11 games ending in stalemates. More recently, since the turn of the century games between the two clubs have been very even with three wins apiece and two draws. The most recent game was the aforementioned Playoff second leg in which Barnsley were victorious, their three goals in 20 minutes cancelling out Jon Worthington's fortuitous goal.
I therefore don't subscribe to the theory that we have to worry about this weekends opposition being a bogey team. If we go to Oakwell tomorrow with the intention of taking the game to them, exploiting our pace down the flanks and avoiding playing aimless long balls down the channels, I fancy our chances of winning. However, if we turn up and perform like we have done in our previous two away matches we will once again lose and lose convincingly. I fancy the first option tomorrow, and my prediction is a hard fought 3-1 win for Town.
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