CITY 2 BARNSLEY 0
In recent times City have had the Indian sign over Barnsley – last year we even won away – and if ever we needed this situation to continue it was today. Over 24 000 turned up at the Walkers which, given the opposition and the team's inability to score goals with any regularity, must have convinced Milan he was right to nail his colours to our mast.
The opening period was as scrappy as it is possible to imagine with both sides unable to string more than one or two passes together. The crowd ignored the play and took the opportunity to show where they stood with chants of encouragement for Gerry, who spent the match at the side of the pitch, and disparagement for Gary who had jumped ship at the first port.
Barnsley are somehow in the top half of the table but apart from Howard in the centre of midfield, a playmaker and goal scorer of the type we desperately need, they posed little threat to our defence and the three reliable centre-backs and the keeper had no real problems in keeping a clean sheet. Fulop once made a good block with his legs from Odejayi, the shot from the rebound being deflected wide, but this first half effort aside they were as punchless as we usually are.
You didn't need to be a genius to work out that the first goal would be crucial and that it could only come from a mistake or a piece of luck. In fact it was both! Sheehan lumped in a nothing cross which Barnsley should have cleared with their eyes closed. However a defender got his bearings completely wrong and only managed to glance the ball straight to Collins John six yards out. He mishit his shot which nonetheless finished in the corner of the net. Cue massive relief!….
Encouraged by this we went at Barnsley in by far the best spell of the game. John was hauled down on the edge of the box, a decision the referee confirmed with his well-placed assistant and Sheehan's free kick came off the wall for a corner. Sheehan produced a wicked bending delivery which Kisnorbo headed in from 3 yards. I was pleased to see him give due credit to Sheehan for the goal. Any decent defence would surely have made it harder for Kisnorbo to score but we are grateful for small mercies at the moment.
What a pleasant sensation to be 2-0 up at home! There were some who thought it was all too good to be true and their fears grew when Wesolowski, our best midfielder up to that point, went off injured before half-time, to be replaced by Chambers. We were never the same again, either because the side was under orders to defend what we had or because we were not good enough to put more pressure on the weakest side to play here this season by a street.
The second half was almost devoid of incident. Both goalkeepers could have gone home early and it would not have made any difference. Collins John managed 72 minutes before going off having taken a knock. He is not match-fit and will have to do much more to earn a regular place in the side. Not enough Collins John rather too much Collins Joan! Cort took his place, won a few balls in the air – Collins John is from the de Vries school of heading – and made a couple of decent passes, from one of which Hume blazed well wide when he should have hit the target.
So is this the beginning of a revival of our fortunes? Given that today's team contained 7 players who were here last year no chance! We are strong at the back but neither Stearman nor Sheehan seem capable of playing the wing-back role. They do not get forward more than a couple of times per half at best. Obviously they are told to be more full-backs than wing-backs but they clearly lack the engine to motor up and down all game and the physical strength to be out and out defenders. They are young and should improve but Milan is an impatient man! Must add a mention for Sheehan's set pieces which are quality.
Mid-field is a major problem. Chambers is combative but lacking in creativity and would be better at wing-back if we had decent mid-field cover. Newton had a reasonable match but is similar to Chambers. Hume, playing as the attacking mid-fielder, was industrious as ever but only once got into a possible scoring position. At no time did he threaten to open up Barnsley's defence so the front two had a minimum of four men to contend with whenever they had the ball. Fryatt played intelligently but was always overcome by numbers or, more worryingly, the greater physical strength of the defenders.
The referee was an interesting character, bearing an uncanny resemblance to Monty Panesar. He got the few bookings right but blew his whistle far too often for the game to develop any sort of flow. A scrappy game needs any help it can get and this one didn't get much! Cries of 'Stick to cricket' were inevitable.
Today's precious 3 points will be much needed as we stagger towards the January transfer window when we must get rid of a stack of players and buy intelligently if we are to avoid a relegation battle let alone think of challenging for a play-off place. I hear Chelsea scored 6 today so they may be satisfied with half that on Wednesday!
City: Fulop 7, Kisnorbo 7, N'Gotty 7, McAuley 7, Sheehan 6, Wesolowski 7 (42 Chambers 5), Hume 6, Newton 5, Stearman 5, Fryatt 6, John 5 (73 Cort 6)
Barnsley: Muller, Foster, Souza, Nyatanga, Kosluk, Devaney, Togwell (85 McCann ), Howard, Campbell-Ryce (71 Ricketts), Mostto (63 Christensen ), Odejayi
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation