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Over the years we've been victim to some horrendous refereeing at this particular ground. There was Kevin Lynch and his nonsensical performance in 1995, the joke refusal of the penalty from Iain Williamson on Boxing Day 2006 and last season's farcical refereeing from Nigel Miller.
However, although he didn't have his best performance, we certainly can't point any fingers at Mark Clattenburg for our early exit, that was all down to our players who, in the main, just didn't perform on the night.
Owen Coyle said there would be changes but not as many as Hartlepool, and that was exactly the case with just five of Saturday's team retaining their place. Goalkeeper Brian Jensen, central defenders Clarke Carlisle and Andre Bikey along with forwards Steven Fletcher and Martin Paterson all played.
The six changes saw Richard Eckersley and Christian Kalvenes come in at full back whilst the midfield four in a 4-4-2 system was completely changed. Chris Eagles and Fernando Guerrero played in the wide positions with Joey Gudjonsson (almost certain to come in for Chris McCann at Spurs) and Kevin McDonald in the engine room.
Coyle had said it would give those players a chance to stake a claim for a place in the Premier League side, but other than two notable exceptions they failed to take that opportunity by a country mile.
It all started well for us and we were the dominant side right from the start with Barnsley appearing to have little answer and twice we nearly too the lead. The teenage Guerrero, who was to be a shining light, went on a run and almost scored from a deflected shot that went just wide.
It would have been a somewhat fortuitous goal but that wasn't the case from the resulting corner when Fletcher got up brilliantly to head for goal only for Rob Kozluk to incredibly head clear off the line.
But this is Oakwell and things never go to plan. With just a quarter of an hour gone Martin Paterson, who had started really well, went down injured on the left wing and had to be stretchered from the field. You always fear the worst when a player goes down under no contact from an opponent and there appears now to be serious concern over Pato's condition.
Jay Rodriguez came on immediately and Burnley continued to press. Eventually it led to a goal. The ball was knocked up to Fletcher with Darren Moore giving his full attention in trying to wrestle him to the ground.
I can't believe Clattenburg was playing an advantage and believed he wasn't going to give anything. In the end it didn't matter, Fletcher turned inside Moore and from just outside the box curled it into the bottom corner past the helpless Preece.
Apart from the Paterson injury, all was well. But this is Oakwell and it all soon turned horribly wrong. Barnsley were level within a minute and a half. A right wing cross was headed against the bar and Jonathan Macken was there to turn in the rebound.
One minute and 28 seconds, according to the official times, was how long we kept the lead, and we now struggled to get back into the game as Barnsley, without a home win all season, were buoyed by their goal.
The next disaster saw the stretcher on for the second time. A ball in from the left saw Jensen and Moore clash with both requiring treatment. Moore was able to continue to half time but Jensen became the second Burnley player to be carried off with Diego Penny coming on in his place.
Between the goals and Jensen's departure right back Eckersley had been yellow carded. Some considered a bit harsh but there would have been nothing harsh had the referee carded him again after another foul just before half time.
His performance was awful and undisciplined and I'm convinced I saw Clattenburg go for his cards and I'm equally convinced had it been anyone else he would have received a yellow card.
Eckersley's night wasn't over though. Just after that he lost possession on the half way line and it led to Barnsley taking the lead. The ball eventually reached Anderson Da Silva who rifled in a shot from outside the box.
So in we went at half time, a goal behind and two players stretchered off. To add to that Coyle was left with no alternative but to haul Eckersley off the field and bring on Duff. Had he left him on it would surely have only been a matter of time before he got himself a second red card of the season.
By now our football was awful, but as I said there were two players who were out there staking a claim for a place in the Premier League side. They were Eagles and Guerrero. Both at times were wasteful, and Eagles in particular failed to deliver anything at the end of good runs.
The two of them combined to bring Burnley level. It was magical stuff from our little Ecuadorian. He got past the full back on the left touchline and then got forward before coming into the box. He skipped past the last defender brilliantly and then squared for the impressive Eagles to stab it home from close range.
It was fitting that it was these two players involved and that should have been the signal to go on and win it. But we never grabbed the initiative and Barnsley just continued to dominate in the midfield where Gudjonsson was poor and McDonald woeful.
In truth though, the Barnsley keeper was perhaps their man of the match, and he made one stunning save to deny Fletcher his fourth Carling Cup goal of the season.
As the clock moved on I suspected it might go to extra time but then came Barnsley's third goal and their winner. From a ball in from the right Hugo Colace was just allowed to meander into the box to head home. No one showed any desire to do anything about it.
We pushed forward and there's no doubt that if we'd have got an equaliser it would have come from Eagles or Guerrero, but it was not to be and when that final whistle blew we were out of the competition we so enjoyed last season and counting the cost of the injuries.
The performance was simply not good enough. Right across the pitch there were performances that ranged from disappointing to downright shocking. That is apart from the two shining lights.
My first consideration was to award my man of the match to Chris Eagles, and in truth he probably deserves it. But Guerrero gets it for that wonderful piece of magic that led to our second goal. These two really have given Owen Coyle some food for thought.
We won't be having a Carling Cup run, now all we can do is hope that the injuries to Pato and the Beast are not as bad as we fear.
The teams were;
Barnsley: David Preece, Jacob Butterfield, Darren Moore (O'Neil Thompson 45), Stephen Foster, Rob Kozluk, Julian Gray, Anderson Da Silva, Hugo Colace, Adam Hammill, Iain Hume, Jonathan Macken. Subs not used: Tom Rusling, Mounir El Hamour, Martin Devaney, Simon Heslop, Daniel Bogdanovic, Onome Sodje.
Burnley: Brian Jensen (Diego Penny 34), Richard Eckersley (Michael Duff 45), Clarke Carlisle, Andre Bikey, Christian Kalvenes, Chris Eagles, Joey Gudjonsson, Kevin McDonald, Fernando Guerrero, Steven Fletcher, Martin Paterson (Jay Rodriguez 15). Subs not used: David Edgar, Brian Easton, Wade Elliott, Robbie Blake.
Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear).
Attendance: 6,270.