The Oakwell wait goes on

Last updated : 21 October 2007 By Tony Scholes
John Spicer
John Spicer - impressive again in the midfield
We should have won, we should have been out of sight by half time as we outplayed a team that kicked off the game in a play off position and are still only out of that top six on goal difference. An early goal should have been added to but that slender one goal lead proved not to be enough as Barnsley came back to equalise and take a point they really should not have had.

Steve Cotterill made two changes to the side that had lost at Cardiff. Chris McCann was back in the starting line up and his return from injury meant Alan Mahon went onto the left hand side of midfield with Northern Ireland's midweek hero Kyle Lafferty having to settle for a place on the bench.

Up front Robbie Blake was out after tweaking his hamstring and that meant a first league start for Ade Akinbiyi since the end of last season, and Ade only just made it after suffering from sickness on Friday night. Robbie struggled with a hernia injury when he first signed for us almost six years ago but since his summer 2002 operation I can't recall him ever having missed a game since with an injury.

He was there offering his support, sat in the stand to our right along with Jay Rodriguez, Jon Harley and Besart Berisha who has begun the long road back to fitness after his recent surgery.

One real positive this season is how we have started away games. With the exception of Cardiff we have taken the game to our opponents and in a couple of those games have got ourselves in front. That's what happened here although I'm not sure Andy Gray knew too much of what had happened.

A throw in on the left hand side went to Ade with his back to goal. He laid it off for Gray who in turn played the ball out wide to Wade Elliott. Wade took one touch and then crossed low but Barnsley defender Lewin Nyatanga got there first but could only hit the ball straight at Gray, and it cannoned off our leading scorer and into the net. My first thoughts were that it had gone in off his hand, that would have been a good response after last season, but it wasn't the case, and in any case it just hit him.

So, a goal up at Barnsley for the first time since the 1980/81 season, and for the rest of the first half you wondered just how the beleaguered home defence wasn't beaten again. John Spicer and Chris McCann were dominating the midfield whilst Wade and Alan Mahon were simply too good for their full backs Dominik Werling and Stephen Foster respectively.

Despite all that, we just could not get that second goal. I thought Andy Gray had got his second, and judging from his reaction I think Andy did too, but Heinz Muller pulled off a stunning save to get down to his header by the left hand post. It really was a terrific save.

Just before that Muller would have had no chance with a shot from Elliott that curled just outside his right hand post. He was well beaten and Wade was only a matter of inches away from his first goal since that wonder striker at the Stadium of Light last April. In true Barnsley fashion we should have had a penalty for handball but it was amazingly turned away by referee Probert.

It was all a delight to watch from the Clarets - maybe not quite Arsenal, but the pass and move style was very pleasing on the eye. We had other chances too, and Clarke Carlisle twice should have done better with headers, one in particular went over the bar when he really should have done better. Wade had another opportunity but put his shot wide of target.

Not as thought it was one way traffic but to be honest the only threat from Barnsley was from set pieces and twice they went close. One was blocked by Carlisle whilst the other brought a top save from Gabor Kiraly.

Even so, half time at 1-0 hardly reflected the first half. As we had our discussions during the interval, waxing lyrical about our performance, the Oakwell ground staff were watering half of the pitch, and watering it so thoroughly that once play got underway it looked like the Tom Finney splash every time a ball was played.

It didn't matter, even thought it is something they shouldn't be allowed to do, all we had to do was continue the way we were playing in the first half and the 1,500 plus Burnley fans would all be witnessing a win at Barnsley for the first time, I can't believe there was anyone there who had seen the 1932 win.

Unfortunately it didn't quite work out like that and the second half showing was nothing like the first half. We had our moments but we weren't able to put them under any sort of pressure at any stage and they were allowed too much possession.

Gabor made a good save from a long ranger after Steven Caldwell had given the ball away but mainly the threat came from set pieces. I thought we would still go on and win it but if they were going to get back into the game then it would probably come from a set piece. And that's exactly what happened.

What was also not a surprise, given it came from a corner, was that Nyatanga was involved. He'd been making these runs to the near post all afternoon and with nineteen minutes gone it finally worked. He got a head to it and glanced it onto the bar and it rebounded ever so nicely for Miguel Mostto who headed home from a couple of yards out.

At this point I feared the worst, and they came close to a second almost immediately afterwards. But that was about it. It was us who got the ball in the net again, but the whistle had already gone.

The last whistle from Lee Probert signalled yet another draw, that's four in five games now. When you draw you always think whether it is a point won or two points dropped. Away from home it is always a point won, but we were better than Barnsley and we should have gone on and won this game.

There are a lot of positives, there have been in most games this season, but there are negatives too. The play is attractive, we are positive, we are able to create chances and only Cardiff have scored more goals on their travels than we have. But we are conceding too many goals, we are conceding too many goals from set pieces. We're improving though, there's no doubt about that for me and I believe we will improve further as the season goes on and I think we will end the season with a bigger points haul than in any of the previous five seasons.

Our much, and oft, maligned midfield is where I look for the man of the match. I thought all four of them had good games, again particularly in the first half. Wade was back to the sort of form that we saw from him last season, Mahon is showing us why the manager referred to him as the jewel in the crown and why he said he would make us play better football.

Chris McCann is getting better and better for me and any of those three could have won it. But I'm going for John Spicer. Without a start all last season he's forced his way back into the side and done really well. Who knows he might just be able to form a partnership with McCann.

We need to start winning some games, that's obvious, but I'm confident that will happen. We know what we are capable of, we saw it in the first half here, we saw it at Colchester and at times at both Sheffield Wednesday and Bristol City. Now let's go out and do it at home.

The teams were;

Barnsley: Heinz Muller, Stephen Foster, Lewin Nyatanga, Dennis Souza, Dominik Werling, Martin Devaney, Brian Howard, Grant McCann, Jamal Campbell-Ryce (Rohan Ricketts 84), Miguel Mostto, Kayode Odejayi. Subs not used: Nick Colgan, Rob Kozluk, Sam Togwell, Michael Coulson.

Burnley: Gabor Kiraly, Graham Alexander, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Stephen Jordan, Wade Elliott, John Spicer, Chris McCann, Alan Mahon (Kyle Lafferty 69), Ade Akinbiyi (Steve Jones 85), Andy Gray. Subs not used: Brian Jensen, David Unsworth, James O'Connor.

Referee: Lee Probert (Wiltshire).

Attendance: 11,560 (including 1,583 from Burnley).