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At least not totally Oakhell!

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Burnley`s record at Oakwell is awful with only one win there since 1932 but at least the Clarets returned with a point this time after drawing 1-1 with the Tykes on Tuesday night. It looked so promising after 5 minutes when that man, Charlie Austin got back to his goal scoring ways after just five minutes! Charlie had drawn a blank in his last three games but thundered home a header from a Wallace corner to put a shaky Barnsley side 1-0 behind! The Tykes looked dejected and their home crowd dumbstruck, what few decided to turn up that is with so many empty seats around the stands! Not for the first time though this season, the Clarets took their foot off the accelerator and failed to kill the game off when they had the chance. Another goal could have seen Barnsley fold but frustratingly the Tykes stuck to their task, dug deep and managed to get the equaliser just eight minutes before half-time. The second half if I am honest was a pretty dire affair with few chances at either end and Burnley seemed to be content to hold on for a point instead of going in for the kill. The point we duly got, some achievement itself on this bogey ground but in the end it was a disappointing result for the Clarets against a team clearly struggling at the wrong end of the Championship. The point means the Clarets drop back to 14thon 27 points now five points behind the sixth placed club, Hull City. Blackburn play Bolton tonight and Wanderers could do the Clarets a favour and return home with three points from Ewood Park. If they do beat Rovers, we will just be a point behind them going into the crucial derby against Blackburn at Turf Moor on Sunday.

Team Sheet

Fairly straightforward for Sean Dyche with no surprises in his team selection. Kieran Trippier as expected returned straight to the line-up after sitting out a one match suspension and Marvin Bartley stepped into midfield replacing Dean Marney who picked up a fifth yellow in the previous game away to Hull. No change in tactics either with our usual 4-1-4-1 formation favoured yet again by the new gaffer. The full line up was as follows:

Grant, Trippier, Duff, Shackell, Mee, Stock , Wallace, McCann, Bartley ,Paterson, Austin

Subs : Jensen, Lafferty, Edgar, Stanislas, Stewart, Ings, Vokes

Full Match Report

A rather subdued home crowd seemed to do very little to lift their team and Burnley soon began to take advantage in the first few minutes of the game; a period which culminated n the opening goal for the Clarets in the fifth minute. Some nice link-up play between Wallace and Trippier led to the right back putting over a cross which Bartley dummied to completely confuse Akos Buzsaky who deflected the ball wide of his own goal to concede a corner. Wallace booted the corner over and there was Austin, timing his run to perfection to get past his marking defender and head down with some power to score his first goal in four games. There was a sense now that Burnley could take charge and completely dominate a Barnsley side looking short on confidence. If they could get another goal, the Tykes could fold but for some reason the Clarets let them off the hook and failed to take advantage of the situation. Barnsley has not won on home soil since the start of September and they were already a goal down after just five minutes. A fourth successive defeat even this early looked on the cards, but Burnley just couldn`t go for the jugular and the Tykes to give them credit refused to give in and even started to mount their own pressure following two successive corners soon after the Clarets had taken the lead. All the play now seemed to be frustratingly in the Burnley half although the defence rarely looked troubled and held their ground. A chance to double the lead though came after 25 minutes when Stock delivered a long-pass to Austin. Stephen Foster, a former Clarets full back was beaten for pace allowing Austin to cross finding McCann who really should have done better with his headed attempt from just 12 yards out. Burnley though now had at least stepped up a gear and when McCann crossed for Austin, any contact could have spelt probably curtains for Barnsley but the danger passed.

Burnley looked to be starting to control the game again but that all evaporated when the Tykes out-of-the-blue managed to get the equaliser just seven minutes before half-time. Scott Golbourne delivered a cross towards the penalty spot and the Burnley defence seemed to hesitate giving Tudgay the chance to get in a header and put the ball beyond Grant to level things up. 1-1 then at half-time and a half of missed opportunities for the Clarets!

With both Bartley in midfield and Pato on the flank not firing on all cylinders, Dyche tried to freshen things up and changed tactics for the start of the second half. Ings came on to replace Bartley and Pato was given a more central role in attack. Barnsley keeper, Luke Steele was suddenly given a hectic few minutes at the start of the second half. Wallace tested him with a free kick before Paterson passed to Ings allowing the former Bournemouth striker to get in a low drive from 20 yards out. The ball beat the keeper but hit the foot of the post before flying away to safety. Burnley continued to try and get the lead back but they were increasingly frustrated with few real chances coming their way. Possession seemed to be a problem for the Clarets and time-and-time again they wastefully gave the ball away allowing Barnsley to counter-attack.

Barnsley now had a spell of their own where the Clarets looked to be under pressure and with 20 minutes to go, the Tykes nearly even got their noses in front! Craig Davies came close after belting a drive from 25 yards out with the ball skidding dangerously towards target and then Buzsaky tried a long-range effort which brought out a comfortable save from Grant. The Tykes kept up the pressure though and Grant had to save again after collecting a Jim O`Brien volley.

Burnley had to try and do something different if they wanted to go on and win this game and with 10 minutes to go, on came Sam Vokes to replace Wallace. The Clarets looked strong on the counter-attack at times and with Vokes now on there was another target and he duly obliged winning a number of headers without sadly though setting up the winning goal. The closest Burnley came to finding the back of the net followed an Austin cross, when Tykes defender, Jimmy McNulty seemed to panic before getting in a hurried clearance. Barnsley nearly had the final word in added time too but thankfully Grant kept out Buzsaky`s free-kick. Burnley had to be happy with an away point in the end, their fourth in four days following victory at Hull on the previous Saturday. Slightly disappointing and a match we could and should probably have won but at least there were no suspensions or injuries that could have affected players availability for the big one against Rovers at Turf Moor this Sunday

Match Stats

Barnsley: Steele, Golbourne, Foster, McNulty, Cranie, Mellis (O’Brien – 81), Greening, Buzsaky, Davies (Sinclair – 79), Noble-Lazarus, Tudgay

Subs Not used: Alnwick, Wiseman, Stones, Dawson, Cywka

Goal: Tudgay 37

Booked: 0

Burnley: Grant, Trippier, Duff, Shackell, Mee, Stock (Edgar – 81), Wallace (Vokes – 83), McCann, Bartley (Ings – 46),Paterson, Austin

Subs Not Used: Jensen, Lafferty, Stanislas, Stewart

Goal: Austin 5

Booked: Yellow Card for Duff (90 + 2mins)

Possession: 52% Barnsley, 48% Burnley (Source: BBC Sport)

Ref: Phil Gibbs (West Midlands)

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Vital BFC Editor

3 comments

  • turfmanphil says:

    Disappointing night after such a promising start! Just can’t seem to go for jugular when we have the chance

  • VinRogue says:

    I think that if you had said we would get 4points from Hull and Barnsley away back to back, I would have been delighted, and to only concede 1 goal in two away games. It is play-off form and as such if we grind out points that EH’s team never did, I am happy to accept the odd poor performance with a point and keeping in touch of the top 6.

  • WelshClaret says:

    Tend to agree with that VR , a draw at Oakwell is a good result on previous showings ! Dyche is still sussing out this team , and it’s not easy to perform superbly in every match (ask Chelski , Arsenal or Spurs) but the fact that we’re still within striking distance speaks for itself at the moment. Grinding out results when you’re not playing too well is usually associated with successful teams , and Dyche has certainly suceeded in changing the mentality of this side. Here’s hoping for a superb performance on Sunday , but having said that I’ll settle for a one goal victory however they play . UTC

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