In the build up to the game, for the first time, I didn't have to make any references to us not having won there in generations, after the Boxing Day shock just under ten months ago.
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| Chris McCann went close with a shot from 50 yards |
I've been to Barnsley to see us come home with nothing too many times and so often when we've deserved much more. We've suffered at the hands of referees Kevin Lynch, Iain Williamson and Nigel Miller and we even had Stan Ternent cancelling Christmas after a Boxing Day defeat there in 2000.
Last night there were no excuses. We couldn't even point a finger at referee Lee Mason who hardly had a decision to make all night. Any fears we had there were, for once, unfounded, and our problems lay totally with our own performance.
Eddie Howe named an unchanged team in terms of personnel. Given his lack of players it was probably no surprise. There was a change in formation though with Junior Stanislas moving onto the right, Jay Rodriguez playing on the left and Ross Wallace playing in a central role behind lone striker Charlie Austin.
Ahead of the game, members of the Light Dragoons Regiment marched on and around the pitch and received the warmest of applause from all four sides of the ground. They then stood to give the two teams a guard of honour as they came out ahead of kick off.
We started well and were unfortunate not to go in front as early as the fourth minute. Kieran Trippier, playing against his previous loan club, made a decent start to the game and found Ross Wallace in a central position just inside the box.
Wallace struck his shot and the away end behind Lee Grant's goal rose as one to celebrate the early goal only to see the ball coming back into play. It wasn't too clear but Rob Edwards had managed to clear it off the line with goalkeeper Luke Steele beaten.
Sadly, it wasn't a foretaste of what was to come and Barnsley soon got into their stride. They had clearly worked on one idea of attacking down their right against Brian Easton and then getting crosses into Craig Davies at the back post.
It worked time and again and on two occasions Trippier did really well to get a head on the ball to keep us out of danger. Unfortunately, the tactic worked just past the twenty minute mark. Brian Easton stumbled and Jim O'Brien got in his cross. This time Davies got the header down for Jacob Butterfield, allowed far much time and room, to sweep the ball home from close range giving Grant no chance at all.
A goal down, and at no stage in the remaining 70 minutes or so did I ever think we did enough to suggest we might get something out of the game.
We had our moments, and one came soon after when Jay Rodriguez hit a shot from distance against the bar, but we were never able to put Barnsley under any sort of sustained pressure and we weren't giving them a difficult night.
It was still 1-0 at half time but Barnsley came closest to a second when Grant parried a shot right back into the danger area. He redeemed himself, along with David Edgar, to clear the danger and so we were still in with a chance as we went in for the break.
The players' tunnel at Barnsley is right by the away end and some Burnley fans let it be known to manager Eddie Howe that they were far from happy as he trudged down the touchline, head bowed, on his way back to the dressing room.
The change for the second half saw us revert to the 4-4-2 system with Wallace and Stanislas right and left respectively with Jay Rod partnering Charlie Austin.
We pushed forward with very little conviction whilst at the other end we were mighty thankful that Davies had keyed the wrong postcode into his Sat Nav. Twice he was allowed to go clear one-on-one with the goalkeeper, courtesy of horrible errors by Edgar and twice he somehow managed to miss the target when Barnsley stretching their lead looked inevitable.
We kept going; we made the substitution we were all expecting - Keith Treacy for Stanislas - but little changed. We had a half hearted appeal for a penalty (Mason rightly waved it away) and then Chris McCann almost bagged a sensational equaliser.
Steele was well away from his goal after chasing out to clear a ball and it landed at the feet of McCann at least fifty yards from goal. All credit to the skipper; he went for a shot into the unguarded goal which, as Steele frantically tried to get back, went agonisingly wide of the post. I don't think we'd have bothered with a goal of the month competition had that gone in.
In truth, by then, the game looked to be heading for a 1-0 defeat. We really didn't look as though we might create a real opening whilst Barnsley, on the other hand, were missing their opportunities.
That's, maybe, why Keith Hill opted to replace the main culprit Davies with Ricardo Vaz Te. In truth, Davies wasn't fit and had done well to play as long as he did, but the former Bolton player Vaz Te did the trick.
A ball played down the line was completely misjudged by Edgar. Only he will know what he was trying to do but whatever it was, it didn't work. It left them clear down the wing with Easton exposed against two players. Butterfield played it for Vaz Te, and with no one bothering to come across and close him down he promptly netted to complete the scoring.
This wasn't poor defending; it was totally shambolic, just as Reading's winner had been on Saturday. This wasn't just about Edgar's shocking mistake but a total lack of organisation at the back where, Andre Amougou apart, there were some downright shocking performances.
That was the prompt for more dissent from the away stand and by the final whistle there were some very angry Burnley supporters venting their anger with Howe, as manager, taking the brunt of it.
So where now Burnley? Is this squad of ours good enough to be further up the table challenging? My answer to that is a clear no. This squad for me isn't good enough for the Championship and unless there is some urgent action taken I can see us being right down there in a dog fight at the bottom.
Worrying, and it's not the first time I've written this, I don't think there is enough fight or strength in this side for such a fight and if we should get sucked in, and we are only three points away now, I fear the worst.
We've no experience in this side - we've got rid of it. We are lacking in quality - we've got rid of it. Someone is going to have to find both, and quickly.
For now - it's time to prepare for Coventry, like Barnsley another poor side, and let's hope that we can turn in something considerably better than we did last night.
The teams were;
Barnsley: Luke Steele, Scott Wiseman, Stephen Foster, Rob Edwards, Jim McNulty, Jim O'Brien, Jacob Butterfield, Nathan Doyle, Craig Davies Ricardo Vaz Te 74), Danny Drinkwater, Andy Gray. Subs not used: David Preece, Miles Addison, Cameron Park, John Stones.
Yellow Card: Andy Gray.
Burnley: Lee Grant, Kieran Trippier, Andre Amougou, David Edgar, Brian Easton, Marvin Bartley, Chris McCann, Junior Stanislas (Keith Treacy 68), Ross Wallace (Zavon Hines 87), Jay Rodriguez, Charlie Austin. Subs not used: Jon Stewart, Ben Mee, Dean Marney.
Referee: Lee Mason (Bolton).
Attendance: 9,692 (including 965 Clarets).
Footnote
There were two milestones last night for Jay Rodriguez. It was his 50th league start for Burnley and also his 100th competitive appearance for the club.