Barnsley on Boxing Day should be no surprise

Last updated : 26 December 2008 By Tony Scholes

The previous two Boxing Day clashes have both ended in 1-0 defeats for the Clarets, but both of them could have been so different.

The first of them was in 2000 when Burnley fans filled that away end at Oakwell only to see us go down to a stoppage time goal from Chris Morgan after a double error from Lennie Johnrose.

Manager Stan Ternent was so incensed that he cancelled Christmas and accused the players of having had too much plum duff.

Two years ago we found ourselves behind in the first half, but after the break we tore into Barnsley and an equaliser at the very least looked on the cards. It would have come too but for the rule change that allowed defenders to handle the ball on the line, but this is not the only time we've been on the wrong end of a shocking refereeing decision at Oakwell.

Our Opponents


Since the Oakwell meeting in November Barnsley have added to their squad with the loan signing of Jamie Cureton from Norwich. Cureton has already played at the Turf this season, coming on as a sub for Norwich in our 2-0 win against them in October.

Like ourselves they have played just five league games since the game at Oakwell. Whilst we've been picking up points they have had a bit of a struggle and their home win against Plymouth last week was their first win since beating us.

They are now in 17th place in the table but they are comfortably ahead of the bottom three, in fact some seven points clear of Nottingham Forest who are in third from bottom place in the table.

Click HERE to see all Barnsley's results this season


Team News


Barnsley are expected to be without defender Dennis Souza and winger Martin Devaney who are both struggling with injury, but there's good news with Hugo Colace returning after serving a suspension.

They are expected to line up: Heinz Muller, Marciano Van Homoet, Stephen Foster, Darren Moore, Rob Kozluk, Jamal Cambell-Ryce, Anderson Da Silva, Hugo Colace, Diego Leon, Jonathan Macken, Jamie Cureton. Subs from: Michael Coulson, Mounir El Hamour, Maceo Rigters, Kayode Odejayi, Miguel Mostto.

Click HERE to see the full Barnsley squad


It's looking very much as though it could be the same sixteen for the Clarets with both Kevin McDonald and Wade Elliott looking to be struggling. McDonald appears to be the closest to a return but this game could come too early for both of them.

If that's the game our team should be: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Stephen Jordan, Graham Alexander, Robbie Blake, Joey Gudjonsson, Chris McCann, Chris Eagles, Martin Paterson. Subs: Diego Penny, Alan Mahon, Alex MacDonald, Ade Akinbiyi, Steven Thompson.

Last Season


Kyle Lafferty
Kyle Lafferty - scored a brilliant second goal
I'm still surprised that referee Colin Webster allowed our home game against Barnsley last season to go ahead. A downpour that started just after noon left the pitch with surface water across big areas and yet he gave it the go ahead.

We started the match brightly and could so easily have taken an early lead. Steven Caldwell was unlucky with a header that was cleared and Chris McCann scored only for it to be strangely disallowed.

But Barnsley came back to create a couple of chances of their own. They were better chances than ours but they contrived to miss them and they were soon looking at a deficit.

Around the half hour we scored twice in six minutes to take control of the game. Wade Elliott got the first. Robbie Blake brilliantly got the ball to him and he hit home through the keeper's legs.

It was a good goal, but the second was better. From a throw on the left the ball was played to Kyle Lafferty who turned on the corner of the box to hit a shot past the keeper and into the top corner.

The pitch was getting worse, but Barnsley managed to pull one back but it should have been cut our firstly by Graham Alexander and then Brian Jensen. But it got across goal for Brian Howard to hit home.

Emergency work was done on the pitch at half time and the rain did finally ease off. Conditions weren't good but they were improved and that allowed the match to be finished. There were no more goals in the second half but it was a half we dominated.

The win proved to be our seventh and last home win of a season where we constantly struggled at Turf Moor.

The teams were;

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Graham Alexander, Steven Caldwell, David Unsworth, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott (Alan Mahon 90), James O'Connor, Joey Gudjonsson, Chris McCann, Robbie Blake (Andrew Cole 79), Kyle Lafferty (Ade Akinbiyi 74). Subs not used: Gabor Kiraly, Mark Randall.

Barnsley: Luke Steele, Rob Kozluk, Stephen Foster, Dennis Souza, Lewin Nyatanga, Jamal Campbell-Ryce (Michael Coulson 78), Brian Howard, Bobby Hassell, Diego Leon (Kayode Odejayi 63), Jonathan Macken, Daniel Nardiello. Subs not used: Marciano van Homoet, Martin Devaney, Istvan Ferenczi.

Previous games against Barnsley


Previous 20 Seasons

Season

Div

Ven

Result

Att

Scorers

1994/95

1

h

0-1

11,968

.

.

.

a

0-2

5,537

.

2000/01

1

a

0-1

18,725

.

..

h

2-1

15,380

Johnrose Payton

2001/02

1

h

3-3

14,690

Morgan(og) Briscoe Payton(pen)

..

a

1-1

14,411

Taylor

2005/06

LC

h

3-0

4,501

Lowe Akinbiyi Spicer

2006/07

C

h

4-2

10,304

Harley Noel-Williams(3)

.

.

a

0-1

12,842

.

2007/08

C

a

1-1

11,560

Gray

..

h

2-1

11,915

Elliott Lafferty

2008/09

C

a

2-3

10,678

Paterson(2)



Click HERE to see all our results against Barnsley