City 4 Barnsley 1
This was a hugely entertaining game with the 23,000 home crowd more than satisfied as City continued their relentless advance into the higher reaches of the Championship with an exceptional win against a worthy Barnsley side. As a birthday treat for manager Sven it could hardly have been bettered.
Expectations were high on the back of four recent wins out of five and an increasingly solid home record, though the Tykes were unlikely to be easy meat and indeed would overtake City if they were able to take 3 points from this match.
The early stages showed the teams to be evenly matched with Barnsley particularly impressive when pushing forward after City midfielders had lost possession in the Barnsley half. Gallagher had the best chance of the early minutes firing a free kick narrowly over from a threatening position. This was obviously his sighter as after 15 minutes he took aim from outside the box and fired past a despairing Steele into the top right-hand corner.
Gallagher's overall contribution to the team can be a matter of concern, particularly in away games, but this was a belter of a goal in all fairness. Strange to say that it was far from the best of the 5 goals we were to see and perhaps not in the top three!
Barnsley were not thrown out of their stride by going a goal down and frequently threatened at least as far as our penalty area. It was obvious that one goal was not going to be enough. During this period there were signs that City's defence is not yet all it needs to be and the Tykes made particular progress down our right and also through central midfield.
City played a 4-5-1 formation but still seemed vulnerable to midfield thrusts. The nearest we came to increasing our lead was when the impressive van Aarholt clipped the bar with a free kick from outside the box.
However our fears were eased by a second goal for Sven's men close to half-time and what a goal! King was put clear down the right and bore down on goal with defenders coming across to contain the threat. His first efforts were blocked but showing his trademark coolness in front of goal King calmly chipped the keeper to send the ball into the far corner of the net. A keeper twice as tall as Steele would have stood no chance with an exquisite lob which most golfers would die for!
At 2-0 we all thought that we could relax and enjoy a care-free half -time. Little did we know that we would arrive at half-time with nerves totally shredded! From the kick-off Barnsley attacked down the right and poor defending allowed a cross of high quality to be delivered to the far post where O'Connor thumped it home, only for the attempt to be disallowed for offside by a perfectly positioned assistant referee.
We barely had time to breathe again before Barnsley swarmed round the City penalty area and Mellis cleverly making space for himself on the edge of the box spotted a gap and placed the ball beyond Weale who had no chance. From the kick-off Barnsley poured forward again and Nouble shot past Weale only for Naughton to race across and block his shot on the line! It could easily have been 2-3 and all this took place in added time!
Clearly Sven took the team to task at half time and no doubt threatened the team with no birthday cake if they didn't get a grip. Whatever Barnsley were never as good again and failed to create a real chance in the second half. City were relatively quiet for a spell with occasional howitzers from Gallagher but effectively settled the match with a second goal from King. He took possession just inside the Reds half and sped directly towards the goal. Yakubu and Gallagher pulled wide to take the centrebacks out of the equation leaving a clear gap for King who needed no second bidding.
Many years ago I remember seeing Arthur Rowley regularly taking aim and feeling he was bound to score. When King takes aim I get the same feeling and sure enough he found the bottom right-hand corner of the net with a beautifully-weighted shot. Match over! Time for another rocket from Gallagher and an even fiercer one from sub Oakley, plus a couple of chances for Yakubu which he wasted with the selfishness of a proper striker. However the best was yet to come.
In the last minute of normal time a header from defence was seized on by Naughton, brushing aside a defender's challenge. From some 30 yards he unleashed a thunderbolt which swerved and flew into the far top corner. Unstoppable! The crowd erupted and the entire City team swarmed round the scorer. A couple of minutes later it was all over and City continue to march on.
It's impossible to describe how different the atmosphere is becoming at the Walkers as City are becoming a force again, winning in style and with something to spare. I really enjoyed this game and wish Barnsley well as their open style of quality play – they too have players on loan from Premiership clubs – made for great viewing with five terrific goals. Happy birthday, Sven!
City: Weale, Naughton, Bamba (Hobbs 82), Mee, van Aarholt, Vassell, King, Abe (Oakley 62), Wellens (Dyer 62), Gallagher, Yakubu
Barnsley: Steele, Hassell, Shackell, Trippier, Hill, Doyle, Mellis (Noble-Lazarus 83), Arismendi (Colace 66), Haynes, Nouble, O'Connor (Butterfield 74)
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