Looked like another tough one for sure, given Barnsley’s qualities, reflected in their league position, and in particular their away record. Win and surely the trap door would be closed, cue fat lady to clear larynx and get the summer hols brochures out; draw and at least the unbeaten run continues, with another four draws to end the campaign likely to be enough; lose and we could conceivably have fallen three places, to 19th, even end up just five points above the drop zone with one or two still with games in hand on us. That would have been a rude awakening and emphasised the need for more points before we could truly relax. So the emphasis was still on points rather than performance and thoughts about next season.
In the event, perhaps in anticipation of the opposition – and certainly as a result of their approach to the game - we put in a performance in marked contrast to the previous three, sterile contests (in which let’s not forget we had scored twice, a soft penalty and an own goal off a defender’s head). And we took the points with a win which was ultimately deserved, even though Barnsley will have been scratching their heads at half-time to have been behind. In truth both teams created enough good chances to have scored a hatful so, aside from some important decisions from the officials (which did go in our favour), the outcome was down quite simply to which team took more. And that proved to be us.
The team was something of a revert to type after the changes for Stevenage. With Watson injured/rested there was a very welcome reappearance for Ramsay. Gillesphey was also brought into the central defensive trio, with Edmunds-Green dropping to the bench. Further forward Anderson returned to the starting line-up, with Ladapo back among the subs, Jones reverting to May and Kanu up front rather than having May in the hole. With Ramsay and Anderson back, Ness and Edun dropped out of the squad, with Edmunds-Green the only available defensive replacement, set against two forwards (Aneke and Ladapo) and two wingers (Campbell and LuaLua) plus a central midfielder (Bakinson). It did leave the bench looking unbalanced, arguably unnecessarily so.
Barnsley caused us problems from the off and defensively we struggled to cope. On three minutes they played in a guy far too easily and we were fortunate that the lob over Isted which he chose went just over the bar. On 10 minutes we were more fortunate still as their forward got goalside of Hector in the box. Hector seemed to either trip him or wrestle him to the ground, with no chance of getting the ball. The ref did have a clear view and may have decided that the guy went down too easily, but there was for sure contact and we could have had no complaints if a penalty had been given.
We had been getting some joy down the flanks with two genuine wing-backs in operation, but it was something of a surprise when we took the lead just before 20 minutes were up. Anderson cut across the area and drew a clumsy challenge, resulting in a free kick just outside the box and fairly central. I thought at the time it would be hard to get it over and under and hadn’t considered another option: May hit the ball sweetly with his right foot and it flew across the wall and into the far corner of the net. It was the area you expected the keeper to be, but he’d moved to his left, seemingly in anticipation of a more routine effort, and was completely wrongfooted. After the game May was asked about it and said he changed his mind at the last moment, seeing the keeper move. If that’s the case it was a truly outstanding effort, to assess a situation in an instant and take advantage of it.
We almost added a second shortly after but after Thomas’ long ball and May’s move back inside Dobson missed his kick and Kanu’s effort was blocked, then at the other end Thomas was caught out and had to take down their guy, picking up a yellow (with Barnsley arguing for more than that). The free kick was blocked by the wall but the reprieve proved short-lived as a ball sent across from their left was met by the outstretched arm of Ramsay. Given the position of his arm the ref really had no option but to give this one. Isted guessed correctly, diving to his right, but the effort was well struck and well placed.
In the following period Barnsley came close to taking the lead at least a couple of times. I don’t know how their guy failed to convert from close range a cross sent in from the right, but he did, then a free kick was headed on and dropped for one of theirs who hit the bar. That said, the game was open enough for either side to feel confident about scoring again. A long ball found Kanu and he was barged over advancing towards goal. At first it looked a clear penalty for us, but the replays showed the first contact was outside the box. That free kick came to nothing but a few minutes later we retook the lead with another gem from May. The ball forward on our left side was dummied by Dobson and ran on to find May, who turned deftly, moved to his right, then hit a lovely curler beyond the keeper. Superb finishing.
Barnsley will have gone to the dressing room at the break feeling hard done-by to be behind and nobody at that stage will have been putting money on a goalless second half. Certainly not me. And it really should not have been goalless.
Just to list some of the major chances, Kanu headed over a Dobson cross when he might have done better; Barnsley danger from a long throw ended with a shot over the bar; on 70 minutes Dobson found May, who checked onto his left foot this time only for his curler to come back off the post and Aneke (who had come on for Kanu, after Edmunds-Green had replaced an understandably tiring Ramsay) headed the rebound over; Barnsley went straight up the other end and a cross from the right found a guy on his own in the box, but he muffed the chance; then on 75 minutes Barnsley were appealing for another penalty (which resulted in a minor altercation involving Hector and a couple of yellows); on 77 minutes a May chip went just over; and a minute later Coventry was played in and rounded their keeper only to find the side-netting from a tight angle (and be given offside).
It didn’t end there as eight minutes of stoppage time (which ended up as over 10) began with a Barnsley ball over the top finding a guy running in on goal, who shot home from a tight angle but was flagged offside (Barnsley it seems say the replay showed him clearly onside), then we had the opportunity to remove any doubts. A difficult ball to control was played back to their keeper and Campbell (who had come on with Bakinson in the final minutes of normal time, for Thomas and May) chased it down. He managed to get there just in time to be caught by the keeper and the ref gave the spot kick. Aneke took the responsibility but his effort wasn’t entirely convincing and was well saved by their keeper’s outstretched arm. He did partially make up for the miss by being instrumental in running down the clock before the ref finally brought proceedings to a close.
Overall a good performance, a highly entertaining game, and a glorious victory. We may still sit in 16th place in the league but with other results going our way we are, with 50 points, all but certain of staying up. Indeed, if we win on Tuesday night and Port Vale lose on Wednesday, we will be mathematically safe. When we lost tamely at Reading in mid-February that seemed an awfully long way off. All that’s left to play for now is really whether we can avoid our lowest final league position for eighty-odd years and whether May can hold onto his spot as the division’s leading goalscorer (he may have accepted losing out on the chance of a hat-trick yesterday but I’ve no doubt he will want to spend every minute left on the pitch in pursuit of that objective). I suspect we are past the point where players are trying to press their credentials for a new contract and to persuade Jones that they should be retained, but we can now let the speculation run rife as regards who will stay and who will go.
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