If scoring free-kicks is that easy, I think I’ll fancy a go. I’ve embedded two videos of it (when the extended Football League show highlights are stupidly taken down by the Football League, you an still watch the hugely entertaining version from the away end), and in both of them, especially the home made one, the shot takes a deflection that many mirrors would be proud of. If someone broke one when we came up, our seven games of bad luck seem to be over, as at the 8th time of asking we’ve beaten the Bluebirds. In the end.

There were two very good teams on Oakwell’s sodden pitch, both trying to pass it around. Parts of the Cardiff team were oozing class, people like Chopra. But, they had problems, and were clearly off form. It showed right from the start, as Colace produced his best performance this season to help Doyle take a strangle hold on the central midfield. They came up against little opposition, though, with McPhail absent, the Welsh side looked devoid of ideas in the middle. The game was broken up a lot, the conditions made a difference, but I think referee Kevin Wright did more to wreck the flow; his whistle blew more than the gale force wind howling around Barnsley.

There were few proper chances, and the extended highlights show how many of what there were came from set pieces. The side were good, but neither properly kicked off. Much of the game was very level, yet as the second half progressed, I thought we came out more and more on top. The 94th minute winner may have been lucky in the end, and the right result was probably a draw, but if one team had to win, the Reds were that team.

With Darren Moore out, there could be concerns over how organized we would be. There wasn’t, as Ryan Shotton moved into his less natural position in the center, but adapted perfectly. The mention in the highlights video is well deserved. I was scared when I heard the ambiguously selected Rob Kozluk was getting another start, because he’d be up against Peter Whittingham. I shouldn’t have been, he was solid all afternoon, and with the help of the winger’s recent Player of the Month award, the right flank was safe.

The attack was actually ineffective for large parts, having difficulty getting a proper passing move going. Colace actually did some play making, which was good to see. Anderson made little, and Hammill struggled with 3 or 4 markers all game. Bogdanovic had one of those games were he tries hard but doesn’t really get any where, while Macken played well, but was penalized every time he touched a Cardiff defender. Yet, without creating a clear chance we made enough half chances to justify the goal. While on the subject of chances, go to 4:00 in the extended highlights video. It’s a set piece, and the reverse angle quite clearly shows a man assaulting Foster’s shirt as our captain tries to reach the ball. There was no shout, but there could have been.

If you want to hear some thing from a Cardiff fan, what better place to go than Cardiff Offside.No doubt Martyn will write us something by the end of today, and I’ll get you a link as soon as possible. Talking of Cardiff fans, I’ve been only impressed with their attitude. On forums etc. they’ve all had a realistic and friendly attitude to the game, the performances and the result. They seem like a really good set of supporters.

Ratings
Kozluk: 8 – Really made a case for himself here, didn’t have to do a whole lot, but got it all right.
Shotton: 8 – Another high rating for him (sign him up).
Dickinson: 8 – First career goal, doesn’t mean your taking any more free-kicks though. He could do for us what Roberto Carlos did in Turkey, take a free-kick when no-one else wants them. (sign him up)
Colace: MOTM 9 – Different to his best performances under Davey, but still effective. More passing, less marking.
Bogdanovic: 6 – If I have to pick a worst player, Boggy might marginally get it, but it’s a close run thing. Not really bad, just not really good.
Chopra: He’d been about five yards from everyone of our free-kicks all game, charging out before it was taken. Glad to see the deflection come off him.

I said earlier about Stephen McPhail not playing. He’s been diagnosed with stage one malt lymphoma, a type of cancer. This will hand him a lengthy spell on the side-lines. There’s been anger against him because of the way he left, but in this case I’m prepared to acquiesce. Talking of acquiescence, Oasis may now be split up (that wasn’t part of the Masterplan, eh, Noel), but I’d encourage other Reds fans to follow in the Gallagher’s 1996 footstep as they suggest ‘Don’t look back in anger, at least, not today’.

Last minute winners always feel good when they go for you, and awful when they don’t. Cardiff are a good side, but we would never have kept ourselves in the game under Davey, and would never have got the chance to get lucky. Davey got 1 point from 5, Robins has got 23 points from 13. Decisive, non?

Kevin Blackwell's top secret plans

Not a fair result, not even close to one. We were the only team who tried to play football. For the first time I disagree with Mark Robins, because he described United as one of the best sides in the League. Wit a full squad, maybe, but on last nights showing, they’re worse than us. Easily. There were certainly a lot of positives to our performance however, and it was one of our better home games of the season. The defence only seems to concede to two things now (1) penalties (2) Man United. 4 penalties in 3 games is a problem. Luke Steele should just do penalty training all week, our defence doesn’t let anything else through. The question is, is the problem us, or is the problem the referees? Or, to put that another way, do we only get shit refs?

We had to make a key change to our defence because, like the Blunts, we had no captain. Foster suspended, so in comes Kozluk to do a decent job at right back, and the excellent Ryan Shotton moves in wards, to make forwards look embarrassingly bad there instead. It’s incredible really, that we’ve managed to concede three goals in two games without me having a bad word for any of our stoppers, but I don’t.
As usual the attack was hugely effective. Under Robins, Anderson thinks he’s Kaka, and often seems to play like him. T’was a good goal too. Macken did all his usual excellent work, without his usual finishing, while Hammill spend his time trying to outwit two, or at times three, markers, a task which even Messi would have to think about. But, the real plaudits in the attacking department go to Boggy. Said Maltese forward had possibly his best game for us. Usually, we get little really good work on his defenders when the ball isn’t near the goal. Today he did everything he could do, and was close enough to the complete forward. How do Hume and Gray get a place back?

Sheffield United have these mythical ‘financial problems’. I’ve got a soloution, sack all the midfielders. Think about, you’d save on wages, refreshments, coach fares etc. I mean, it’s not like they ever get given the ball anyway. United have some good players all over the park, however these good players can’t deal with a ball that spends most of it’s time 20-30 yards in the air. I don’t like Blackwell, but you’ve gotta give him one thing. He lets you know when he’s talking garbage, his mouth is open. I feel really sorry for a lot of Blades fans. Two reasons, (1) They get over shadowed by the idiots who support their club (2) You have to put up with a string of excuses from that crawling, moaning, tactically impotent excuse for a football manager. I feel sorry for you, I really do.

And now, to the non-playing side. And by that, I mean Morgan. Before the game, I was, like so many other Reds fans, angry to not see him playing, and the ‘coward’ banner sums it up. But, on reflection, I’m glad that he didn’t. It would have taken away from the concentration on the actual game, which is what we were there to watch. The most important thing can only be playing as well as possible, and Morgan would have stopped that. This matter will never go away, or at least, not for a long time. However, I do think a largely peaceful game that was focused on the football has helped us along the way, and some normality has been restored. Took a year though.

Ratings
Dickinson: 8- Missing; Jamie Ward. Last known location, this man’s back pocket.
Darren Moore: 8– Boom.
Ryan Shotton: 8- turns out he plays in the middle too.
Anderson: 9 MOTM
Doyle: 5- Not really right for this game.
Hallfredsson: should have played.
Daniel Bogdanovic: 9- Good, good, good.

There was nothing functional about our performance here. We out played United, but didn’t actually get the job done. Having said that, if we play anything like this in future, we’re likely to continue climbing that table.

We had already begun to assert our authority with a bright start, which made the penalty all the more disappointing. My initial reaction was one of disbelief, but I haven’t seen it again, so won’t pass comment. But, to score straight off the kick off showed the kind you spirit we haven’t shown for months, no, years. We kick off, play it wide, win a throw in, Shotton to Anderson, Anderson crosses over the abysmal Ben Amos, and Bogdanovic heads home. We really didn’t push much after that, but had one deadly counter attack, which Anderson worked brilliantly to send Macken through for an angled drive into the roof of the net. The second half was relitavely dull. The Posh dominated the ball, but created no good chances, while we could have sneaked several, notably Macken’s being ruled off-side, and several of the Leo Messi esque. cut ins which Hammill has become so good at.

Our defence was solid, and kept the opposition out for the whole game really. As usual, Ryan Shotton was unbeatable. We chanted his name; the next step is sign him up. The key of organisation has become a feature since Steele returned. Really, an excellent performance.
The attack can have an adjective attached to it that I wouldn’t have expected to for a long while. Clinical. They looked like they could cut Peterborough apart at will, and I don’t really understand why they didn’t go for more goals. Everyone looked on form, and everyone seemed to be playing well. As I previously mentioned, they have no class in midfield, and we dominated them right there. Anderson went straight through them, and if it wasn’t for his injury, Hallfredsson would have done the same.

Against United on Tuesday night, I bemoaned the disgraceful state of the atmosphere we created, for a game of that size. Well, we went out to right that particular wrong yesterday. If the score line reflected the noise, we would have scored 10. We don’t all like every chant, but we all love noise. Great stuff, give yourselves a pat on the back.

So, we did the job. But, it’s not really a big deal any more. Beating Peterborough is like slapping a fish. It’s satisfying, but any fool can do it.
Ratings
Shotton: 9 – Played well, again. Future Stoke captain? I hope not.
Foster: 8 – His best performance of the season, looked like the real Steve Foster again.
Doyle: 8 – Now, Doyle has got some stick, and certainly not got a lot of praise. But, he shut Boyd down great today, and won a lot of balls. I wouldn’t say I wanted him back yet, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Anderson: MOTM 9 – Robins has turned a functional holding player into a free flowing, defence destroying machine.
Bogdanovic: 7 – Didn’t do a whole lot. Except score.

So, this was a good away performance, which we need to learn to replicate. The other issue here is that I, and others, so, so nearly got a prediction right. 3-1 I said, and 2-1 I got back. On the counter of that, I thought Gray would score, and he didn’t even play. Ho hum.

Ah well, we tried. We really did try. We, and the nation via Sky, watched a lot of good performances from the Barnsley players. All we can ask going into a game like this is for a good solid performance. And that’s what we got, against a sublimely talented young United side. We could have got a lot more out of this, but 12 shots off target tells a story. If United had created our range of chances, they would have scored 5 or 6.

We had the chances to win the game. On the night, we were the better team in some areas. But, it was clear how much better than us United’s young stars were. Ferguson said that they deserved to win the game. Yep, I’m going to agree with him there, but we put in more than a decent shout out for our quality. The Scotsman also said that he can’t argue with the sending off. I’m going to agree with him there too, it was what is often called a ‘rush of blood’. Neville’s famous for them.

For the first 15-20 minutes, Anderson (Oliveira) ran the game for Man U, but his range of passing gradually faded out, and we began to boss the middle of the oak. Really, Anderson (De Silva) Hallfreddo, Hammill and Colace are all serious candidates for MOTM. Nobody can seriously accuse Colace of being a passenger here, his defensive tendencies were key in slowing down Anderson (Oliveira) and Rafael (Or was that Fabio?)

We conceded twice, which would normally be poor. But, this was the best attack we’ll play all season, Moore and Foster really weren’t over run. Also, when I heard Julian Gray read out, I was terrified. I like him, but surely he can’t deal with United? The left back/winger was another candidate for MOTM, and judging by the post-match interview on the pitch, Sky may have given it to him

No, the main problem is our forwards. They played pretty well, but didn’t score. Macken didn’t do much, but Bogdanovic, and Hume when he was on both had good touches, and missed good chances. Anderson and Hammill are also implicated in the crime of chance squandering, although I thought they did more to earn them.

By now, you’ve probably heard about the mess of crowd trouble. No, I’m not talking about the brain dead idiots that ran on the pitch. The United fans smashed up the North stand concourse afterwards, and broke into the catering areas, forcing the staff to barricade themselves in a store cupboard, before stealing all the money and food. Those ‘fans’ are on a par with those who rioted at Millwall-West Ham. Catch them, ban them, prosecute them. I do want to point out that, those weren’t the usual Man United support that travel all over Europe, These were the idiots who only got tickets because of the ready availability of tickets for this game.

Now, on Radio Sheffield before the game I heard two thing. (1) They finally talked about a team apart from Sheffield United (is that allowed?) (2) There was an expectation of a fantastic atmosphere. But, there wasn’t a fantastic atmosphere. It was dead. The Ponty End tried, but really they were drowned out by a deafening silence from the masses of people using the program to search for answers to important questions like, what colour are Barnsley in, then? And, who’s the big black lad in the middle? We were forced to suffer, as people in suits sat in silence. Now, I don’t have a problem with those people who come occasionally, maybe with a family member and chose this one for all the obvious reasons. I don’t have a problem with those who, for whatever reason, can’t usually get to games, but made it to this one. I do have a problem with people who last wanted to go to Wembley. And before that, Chelsea.
Ratings
Kozluk: 6 – Could have been a lot worse. Looked poor on the ball, but did a decent job on Tosic and Fabio.
Hammill: 8 – I’d like to think that United fans went away thinking how good he looked. Little do they know, he’s a Scouser.
Hallfredsson: 7- Well, maybe he didn’t exactly set the game alight, but for large part he out played Anderson (Oliveira).
Neville: 5 – Calm down, dear.
Owen: 5 – That goal was brilliant. In his own opinion, he didn’t really do a whole lot, but that spark is still there.
Obertan: 9 – Man, he’s incredible. Future world star.
Wellbeck: 9 – Did, err, someone say something about us signing him.
Fabio/Rafael: 7 – De Silvas, ooooooh, De Silvas, oooooooooh, when their on the pitch, we can’t tell which is which.

It’s at this point that we all pretend to have agreed with Robins when he said that he’d rather beat Peterborough than Manchester United. Scoring would have been great, winning would have been even better. We didn’t score, we didn’t win. I’d be interested to hear what any neutrals reading thought of our team, and I’d hope that it was mostly positive.

These games do come around from time to time, so long as you earn them. We’ve done a lot of good hard work in the League Cup this season, far too much to give it up without a fight. Therefore, I can only see Mark Robins, famous for scoring ‘the goal the saved Fergie’s job’, playing the strongest team available to him.

Unfortunately, that isn’t our best team. Dickinson and Shotton have both been a revalation in defence. They are also both cup tied. Joining them is Andy Gray and Nathan Doyle. They can be replaced (Macken), but there’s no first team full backs. So, Kozluk gets to face the likes of Giggs and Nani. Worrying.

My choice of a team would be:

———————Steele———————–

Kozluk——Foster—–Moore——-Hassell

Hammill—-Colace—–Hallfredsson—-Anderson

—————Hume—–Macken————–

No doubt some of you will disagree with some of that, and I’m sure some will want to start Bogdanovic instead of Hume. But, think about it. This isn’t another chamionship team, this is Manchester United. They deal with players who do what Boggy does, but better, every week. Also, the Malteser has a bad record at starting, against an excellent record off the bench. Also, think about where a goal comes from. We might break them down in open play, but that can’t be relyed upon. In our over turnings of Chelsea and Liverpool, two of our three goals were headers. Hume takes a corner as well as most people in the world. He’s up there with Giggs. For that reason, no metter how badly he does in open play, there is always that set-peice element.

Predicting a game like this is ridiculously difficult. I’m not even going to try. But, you may remember that before the Chelsea game, there was a general feeling that if anyone did it, it would be Odejayi. Anyone got a ‘feeling’ for this game? I think I’d go with Hallfredsson. Throughout his career the Icelander has only really takn one go at a truely world class club. Some of you may already have seen the result. And yes, that is Buffon.

For me, it really is impossible that we can hope or expect to win this. All we want is a good game against a good United side (Do you have any idea who Fergie’ll start?). In some ways these games are great for the ’smaller’ team, because we have nothing to lose.

You don't know what your doing!

People talk about issues in football a lot, and when they come up in a big game, there are often calls for reform. But thing such as diving and dissent really don’t bother me that much, because I see them as part of the game. Referees of the standard we saw yesterday are not part of the game, they just wreck football. I doesn’t matter how well or how badly a team plays if the Referee ruins their chances.

I don’t really believe in true referee bias, but when you see performances like Andy Haines’ yesterday, sometimes it seems like the only reasonable explanation. Although, the checked flag linesman in front of the East stand was just as bad, if not worse. At this point in my miniature tirade, can I just make it clear that we didn’t deserve to win the game. Bristol were clearly the better side, on the day, and in a fair world, they should have won by about one goal, which they did. However, if we’d had a standard, or even slightly bad, display from the man in the middle, then we would almost certainly have got a largely undeserved point.

There was an uncountable number of laughable decisions against us, many when challenging for aerial balls, but in particular I’d like to look at penalties. The penalty that was given looked harsh, because the forward only went down under Shotton’s challenge when Steele seemed to have won the ball. It wasn’t stone wall. However, when Anderson’s right wing cross hit a Johnsons arm a good yard inside the area, the previously mentioned linesman’s flag shot straight up, for a free-kick. If it wasn’t so serious it’d be comedy. We also had a penalty shout in the first half, when Nyatanga appeared to handle a ball while on the ground, again, nothing doing.

But, enough about the Referee, I could go on all day. We played poorly. Bristol looked like a mid-table side, who if we’d played to anything like our best, could have been over-turned. But we didn’t, and on the day were the worst side. The unavoidable did happen, and a lot of the players seemed to have half an eye on Tuesday’s big game. In many cases, the performance just wasn’t there.

Shotton did another excellent job in defence, which just rubs salt in the wound of him, and Dickinson, being cup-tied. Foster, again, wasn’t up to his best, and that’s a fair summary of his season. Apparently, Moore was unsighted for the first goal, which he could have cleared before the bounce. As a unit, we weren’t too bad. Really, I can only think of three top class chances for Bristol, and they all went in.

If we’d converted our chances, it could have been different. Yes, I’m looking at you Hume, and you Campbell-Ryce. Until the first goal, we were on top, with most of the possession, but the attack gave up once Nicky Maynard slid it past Steele. The second half was better, but only when Anderson and Butterfield came on to revive it. JCR looked uncommitted, unmotivated and out of his depth. Could this be the end for him? Hume didn’t cut it at all today, and after scoring (sort of), Bogdanovic has got a shout for a start against United.

Ratings
Ryan Shotton: 8 MOTM – Sign him up, sign him up, sign him up…
JCR: 4 – Awful, has Robins had enough, the reaction as he was substituted was petulant.
Adam Hammill: 7 – Great shot, as usual.
Hallfreddo: 7 – The drive on him is world class, only a matter of time before some ‘keeper is picking one out of his net while the Icelander celebrates on the half-way line.
Anderson: 8 – If Beckham gets MOTM match for England, then Anderson can have it here. Really brightened us up.
Lewin Nyatanga – looks just like Shotton. Just like Shotton.

This is almost a game that we had to get out of the way. Bristol is over shadowed by the looming leviathans of Manchester United and the Blunts. Tuesday will have no connection to our league form; it’s a one off, a cup game. Like Robins said post-match, “I am disappointed with how we played today because we are better than that. You will see a different side on Tuesday night.”

There is no way in hell we deserved to lose that game. Robins came out to bring a decisive away performance to the City Ground, and that told right from the start, as Iain Hume smacks a free-kick into the bar within a minute of the kick-off. We had a series of other chances, far more than Forest, with a variety of shots from Hume, Macken and Hammill. Forest were never as close as us, and a lot of their chances came from either Paul Anderson on the right wing, or from David McGoldrick constantly falling over near the box. Forest played some good passing football, but a lot of the incision came from long balls into the box, whereas we created some clever movement on and off the ball.

The defence never deserved to concede a goal. Darren Moore and Ryan Shotton had, like at Doncaster, been largely faultless. The difference made to the organisation of our back four is huge when there is a confident goalkeeper behind them, and Steele also helped out with some excellent saves.

The attack looked like there was some sort of understanding being formed. We actually used two separate attacking tactics. First half, Macken, Hume and Hammill linked up to create some flash shooting opportunities, but with few sustained plans of attack. Second half, Andy Gray played the lone target man role, and this began to bring in Anderson and Hallfreddo, as well as leaving Hammill one-on-one with an out-classed full back. Personally, I preferred the second choice of tactic, because it really gave us a grip on the game, rather than just some chances.

Reading the last two paragraphs, you’d think that we’d won. Well, if one team had to win, it should have been us, the away team. I would have taken a draw, but nobody should lose any confidence from us getting unlucky right at the death. It happens, pick yourself up, and get on with it. Here’s a cliché for you, take the positives, because there’re enough of ‘em.

Ratings
Luke Steele: 8- He’s good, he’s real good.
Darren Moore: MOTM 9 – Epic. As usual.
Ryan Shotton: 8 – Any chance we can sign him on in January.
Adam Hammill: 8 – Two years ago, Adam Hammill and Paul Anderson were both at Liverpool, and were both regarded as roughly equal to each other. Last night, Hammill proved that we got the best deal.
Iain Hume: 6/7 – Again, good, but not the best he can do. Maybe he’s saving it to try and get Blackwell sacked in two weeks.
Andy Gray: 7 – For me, he did enough to earn a start next to Hume.

In other news, Guy Moussi proves himself to be the stupidest man in Nottingham, as he does something any idiot would be proud of, and gets himself sent off celebrating. Well done, Guy, well done.

On the back of this performance away from home, I can see no problem playing Bristol City back in Yorkshire, and I don’t think anyone’s hopes should be dented by this loss.

A 'Smash-and-Grab Raid'?

I woke up this morning with one overpowering memory of the game. I can remember us being over-run in midfield, with Doncaster pinging the ball around at will. I can also remember us winning. So, did we get lucky or was this a tactical masterpiece.

We set out with a defensive formation, no doubt in an attempt to throttle the spark out of Doncaster’s attackers. And, on reflection, in worked, we gave them very few, almost no chances. The defence played very well, especially Moore and Dickinson. But, the real story of the first half is in midfield, where we were totally out classed. The central midfielders were Colace and Doyle, and the attacking pairing used by Donny out classed them in terms of ball wining and creativity. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to the stats for possession by area, but we had minimal possession anywhere near the half-way line. There was no creative spark, which led to very few attacks.

So, it would seem that as Hammill turned Hume’s corner round his near post marker and slammed in past the keeper, we had got lucky. But, had we. Robin’s had come out with a defensive team, and with the tired Hallfredsson supposed to provide all the drive forward there was little hope for either team at first. But, we seemed to have it all planned out as on rolls Anderson (55 minutes) and Butterfield (60 minutes), instantly slowing down the tiring Doncaster midfield, and turning the tide of the game slowly around, to the point where the goal was not against the run of play.

We did get lucky in the sense that Donny have problems converting their pretty passing moves, and they often seem to out play team, like us, and then lose. I should emphasize that we were the worst team on the day, with all of the skill seeming to be drained out of our attackers. A better team would have beaten us.

Over 3,000 raucous Reds supporters turned out to drown out the home crowd, and to witness the first time we have won three in a row since our successful relegation fight in 2007. Our support will only increase the more times we win, and the more belief Mark Robins can install in us. Tuesday nights game should be considered as one of the best in the league, with Forest having just won four on the bounce. Just like Derby four weeks ago, it is a Tuesday night away, in almost the same geographical location. What are the odds that we take more support than we did that night?

Ratings
Luke Steele: 8 – The difference he makes can only be seen in how well the defence woks with a confident ‘keeper giving their ears some exercise.
Darren Moore MOTM: 9 – Does this man have to retire?
Carl Dickinson: 9 – His best performance for us yet.
Emil Hallfredsson (‘Alfie): 5 – His worst performance for us yet, hasn’t recovered from the international break yet.
Adam Hammill: 7 – How come he rarely scored under Davey?
Iain Hume: 7 – According to the referee, he doesn’t know how to place a ball inside a semi-circle.

Some will describe this as a ‘smash-and-grab raid’. I disagree. It’s more of a meticulously planned assassination, which we even escaped from. Question now is, will our killing spree continue, or will our streak be arrested by Forest.

It’s often said that a manger is bad at organising what he was good at as player. In Robins’ case, that would be scoring goals. Well, that’s one theory out of the window, we just can’t stop scoring. The ex-forward was appointed as Head Coach just before the Watford game, and since then we have scored 13 goals. That’s incredible, and it wouldn’t be long before the hypothetical ‘neutral’ I mentioned above really starts to turn up. Iain Hume is on fire, and has the sort of work rate that made Carlos Tevez so popular at Old Trafford. Macken is playing well at the moment, but really for the class in our attack I look at three top, top players. Hammill is class, although inconsistent, and Hume is unstoppable.

But I did say three players, and it gives me great pleasure to reintroduce…Emil Hallfredsson! Back from injury, the bouncer-look-a-like Icelander comes bursting onto the pitch again! He’s so calm, on the ball he seems to always be able to move it around at will, and can always see the runner. It really takes my breath away when he gets the ball around the half-way mark, and then begins almost floating forwards towards the goal, totally unstoppable.

I’ve pointed out that the game was a cyclone covered lottery, but despite this, I can still say that the defence was solid. This was Darren Moore’s 600th league game, and Steve Fosters 100th game in a Barnsley shirt. There can be debate about which of them is a greater achievement, but what we can definitely say is that between them they can get in the way of any attack. The full-backs were also very impressive, particularly my Man of the Match, Ryan Shotton.

Personally, I’ve always had a lot of time for Ipswich, especially the fans. There’s always been a lot in common between us, and they’ve never had a superior or over-inflated attitude of themselves. Having said that, I have just about no time for the phycotic Roy Keane. His post match comments yesterday weren’t far off from lies, and to say the referee was influenced by our staff surrounding him is complete crap. Simply crap, without a fragment of truth. And for that reason, I find this video hilarious.
I’ve also been riled by how the game is being reported. Usually, it goes something like this, “Roy Keane’s Ipswich side have been beaten again today, and after the game Roy Keane had this to say…” Hello BBC, there was two teams y’know.
Ratings
Shotton: MOTM 9- A great find and his long throws are spectacular.
Darren Moore: 7- 600 is special and in the words of Mark Robins, “If he keeps on playing like this he might get 600 more.”
Steve Foster: 7 – 100 and counting.
John Macken: 8 – The veteran forward is really playing well, and he fully deserves his sensational winner.

This wasn’t a great performance by any standard, but it got the job done. We have a winning mentality now, and this means that results go our way. This was actually our first weekend victory of the season, and I believe it was our first weekend home win since February. Conclusion, Long Live Mark Robins. See you soon.

I disagree with the club constantly blabbing on about Man United, we should learn from the error of two years ago, and shut it for now. But, having said that, the crowd last night was over 12,000, when we only had 5,000 last week, and that is because of the increased likelihood of getting one of the golden tickets if you go to a few games. The relevance of all of this is that a larger number of you mugs will have seen the game first hand, and there is little or no point in a goal by goal break down. Suffice to say, the penalty was, and Shelton Martis can bang ‘em in the corners when he tries hard.

The performance was excellent. It is easy to focus on the attack which yielded 3 goals, but surely by now we must be getting to expect that? After all, the last two weeks of Barnsley games has seen the ball cross the goal line a whopping 21 times. But, after Saturday’s joke, why was the defence suddenly so much better? Why did we suddenly cut out the errors? The answer is quite simple, it’s Darren Moore. We moved Shotton to right back, where he looked confident and solid, and put the ex-baggies man in the middle. The presence brought by his huge bulk, and the calm brought by his huge experience are the difference between an unorganized and unconfident defence and a strong and effective defence. There are those who give the man a lot of flack for his extreme lack of pace. On the other hand, getting old and slow doesn’t matter, when you’ve made a career (one that holds the record for Championship to Premiership promotions, no less) out of not having any pace. Long may he continue, and long may he stay fit.

We seem to have been sticking with our 4-4-2 formation with Anderson in a Kaka esque position. However, we may need a new mentality for our clash against Roy Keane’s failing Ipswich side, because Anderson hobbled off just before half-time. The club website has announced that he requires a scan after a hamstring problem. Fortunately, it describes him as merely a ‘doubt’, and so he will definitely get fit over the International Break. The Brazilian midfielder has been a revelation since his howler at Watford during Robin’s first game. Robin’s has moved him back to the attacking role that I believe he may have played for Sao Paulo all those years ago, and he seems to be relishing it.

The last few games, Iain Hume has been magic. However, I’ve really just brushed over it, simply dumping him with an excellent rating and leaving it there. But, really, he’s more than that, he is truly turning into an Oakwell Legend, in the way no player has for seasons. To come back from a terrible and strangely iconic injury is quite some feat for any player, and many said he would never be the same again. And they were right. He’s come back better.

West Brom played awfully. Nobody can argue with that, even Di Matteo agrees with me. However, playing badly doesn’t necessarily mean you are a bad team, and there are certainly some hugely talented players, such as Chris Brunt. Yes, I know, gasp of horror; I said something nice about Brunt. I gave him as much abuse as the next guy, but for the last half hour we had the resurgent Dickinson following him around, and yet he still scored. I’m not convinced the ex-MK Dons man is the right man for the Hawthorns job, so there might be a different prospect waiting in the return leg. Of course, I’ve also freshly generated a hatred for the man. In his post match comments he said, “We made Barnsley look good”. Well, thanks for the Roberto. Idiot.

BBC match report here, Barnsley one here.

Ratings
Bartosz Biathingy: 7 – Didn’t have a lot to do, but did it all right.
Carl Dickinson: 7 – Much better. More of a defender, less of a clown.
Ryan Shotton: 9 – He now has my seal of approval as a good signing. And I’m proud to confirm, that that means absolutely nowt.
Nathan Doyle: 7 – He’s clearly a good defensive midfielder, not a full back.
John Macken: 9 MOTM – Seems to be turning into a Tuesday night fixture, and with two forwards like Gray and ‘Super John’ challenging for a single place, you know something’s going right.

Mark Robins has turned Barnsley into one of the most exciting teams in the Coca-Cola Championship. But wait, that can’t possibly last. Not because of how we will perform on the pitch, but because this season is the last stand of the infamous soft drinks company Coca-Cola, as the sponsorship deal will not be renewed.This is announced apoplectically by the official site, as the headline blares, “The end for the Coca-Cola football league”. There will be disagreement as to why this is the case. Many will blame the credit crunch, but me, I disagree. The same thing happened to football as always happens with Coke. It tastes sweet at first, but there’s always something artificial, and after a while it goes flat.

Today Roy Keane was issued a vote of confidence by his board. Ohhhhhhh, scary! Roy Keane is an animal, and you know what they do when they’re cornered. I’m gunna stick my neck out and say that if we can beat them, which I think we will, ‘Keano’ will resign by Monday morning. You heard it here first.