It’s a sin.
26 April 2025: Barnsley 1, Shrewsbury Town 2.
Barnsley: Gauci; Earl; Roberts; de Gevigney; Bland; Cotter; Russell; Connell (Nwakali 64’); Phillips; Lembikisa (Watters 46’): Keillor-Dunn.
Unused substitutes: Barrett; Flavell; Graham; McCarthy; Rodrigues.
Shrewsbury: Blackman; Nurse [Y] (Pierre 92’); Nsiala; J Feeney; Benning; Biggins; Marquis; Gilliead; Hoole; Lloyd (Oliver 84’); Stewart (Perry 79’).
Unused substitutes: Dinnanga; England; Loughran; Young.
Match officials: Referee – Mr S Tallis; Assistants – Mr M Sowerby & Mr K Hughes.
Attendance: 11,159.
Do not let anyone tell you this Town season has been dull. Three head coaches. Three totally contrasting styles of football. A collapsed takeover bid. The two best teams in the division humbled at the Meadow. Moaning doom mongers arguing with happy clappers. (Still unsure which of these camps I belong to.) If this season has proved anything, it must be that dullness is an underrated virtue.
Salop’s last away trip of the season to Barnsley, that even the politest person might dismiss as lacking even a semblance of relevance, found itself easily overshadowed by that ever-reliable soap opera plot line: the ‘on-off’ engagement. The odd thing about this match is that we are not sure which party is proposing on bended knee. Why is the father of the bride, Roland, hesitant to give his blessing to the union. Is matchmaker Mickey still keen or is he now eyeing up another suitor. As for the the would-be groom, Michael finds himself unsettled by some of the creepier members of the family that would become his his in-laws. Is the father of the bride offering a dowry the size of which will satisfy Michael. With the proposed wedding date fast approaching, everyone wants a bit of clarity.
After the heavy defeat at Northampton, Salop’s acting head coach revealed that some members of his squad caused his skin to crawl. If that is the extent of his discomfort, then it is mild compared to how my metabolism reacts to watching the same players. However, Michael Appleton managed to conquer his fears sufficiently to name a team of creepy crawlies to play Barnsley. George Nurse and Toto Nsiala returned to form a central defence of three with Josh Feeney. Taylor Perry was the midfielder sacrificed for this formation change. For the second consecutive match Callum Stewart started playing up front with George Lloyd, John Marquis once again filling a hole behind the front pair.
Oakwell is a Tardis in reverse. On the outside it appears massive – the three newish stands towering upwards. Inside, it seems more compact, with an old-style main stand sitting conspicuously on the fourth side. Be it ever so briefly, Barnsley’s home was a Premier League ground, although these days the club is one of the EFL’s inbetweeners, doing well to be in the Championship yet seeming too big to be in League One. If Salop have found themselves squeezed flat in a third division dominated by big spenders, the same clubs have also frustrated Barnsley’s more plausible promotion ambitions. Daryl Clarke was the latest casualty on a head coach merry-go-round, sacked in March after only nine months. Former captain Conor Hourihane assumed caretaker charge, an arrangement now as permanent as any head coach’s position can ever be.
Many supporters perceived Michael Appleton’s skin crawling comments as calculated. They might be more calculated than anyone thought. If you are tying to generate a reaction from your players surely the best time to do it is in the run up to a game against opposition that have won only one in the last ten. As the acting head coach inferred in his pre match interview, if it leads to a win then he has shown he can generate a reaction, if the result is another inferior performance, then he proves he was right all along.
Oakwell’s wide pitch, as green and true as any playing surface you would see down the road at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre this time of the year, might also suit the passing football of Appleton’s desires. Dare one say, right from the opening minutes Salop looked to be moving the ball around as easily as they have done in some time. That is not to say that they were dominating, as even an out-of-form Barnsley looked capable of exploiting the visitors’ defensive frailties.
The first phase of the match generated a subdued atmosphere. This was despite a public address system turned up to the limit and an excitable ground announcer (“Cooome on yoooou reds!). The home crowd was sufficiently silent that any kick up field generated an audible thud of luminous leather on white leather. Any neat piece of play generated a smattering of polite applause, the sort that might acknowledge a nicely weighted safety shot executed by a snooker player in a first round world championship match.
Salop generated the first piece of real excitement. George Lloyd worked well on the right and passed the ball to Benning who thrashed it into the net. The assistant referee stifled the celebrations by raising his flat for what can only have been a marginal offside decision. Before too long Town and a bone fide 1-0 lead. Luca Hoole, whose attacking play does show potential, was able to set Marquis up for a neatly taken goal. Cue celebration in the away end, accompanied by a fair amount of dizziness.
Stung, Barnsley counterattacked but Salop where not overly stretched in defence. Blackman tipped, or appeared to tip, a shot over the bar, but the referee felt it had touched the woodwork and gave a goal kick much to the consternation of home fans behind the goal. The consternation rocketed when Mr Tallis waved away penalty appeals in one of those incidents where one wonders that if it was not a penalty, why was it not adjudged a dive. Salop managed to preserve their lead to the break; we had won half a football match.
The second half suggested Appleton not only likes his football to be easy on the eye but is not above a bit of time management. Salop were determined to protect their advantage by every means available. Barnsley up their game, and the Town defence was under more pressure than earlier in the game, but they seemed equal to it. The attacking outlet was still in evidence, no more so when Stewart did some excellent running to set up Marquis for his second. Stewart’s efforts will count as an assist, but as a piece of creativity it was virtually scoring a goal but not putting the ball in the net yourself.
How bad must Barnsley be: not only were Salop winning away, but they had a two-goal cushion. The hosts tried to get serious and had their best part of the game against a side unaccustomed to defending a lead. Their attempts at goal came thick and fast, although Salop managed to frustrate these efforts, many blocked by a committed Nsiala or saved by Blackman. Jon Russell managed to score after finding space in the box.
Suddenly I was aware of just how much I wanted to win this inconsequential game of football. The nerves were jangling, more more than when Mr Tallis awarded Barnsley a free kick on the edge of the area in the final seconds of normal time. It would have been typical of Town to surrender at the last, but David Keillor-Dunn’s dead ball shot missed the target. Six minutes of added time passed, and Salop chalked up their first win in fifteen matches.
For a welcome change it was nice to end a match with the opposition supporters booing their players. The Salop team enjoyed a modest celebration with the travelling supporters. Appleton applauded quietly as he disappeared down the tunnel. How much will three points affect his future, on which he understands a decision is coming in the next few days. As we left Oakwell ‘It’s a sin’ by the Petshop Boys blasted out. Judging by his post match comments, Conor Hourihane was much of the same opinion.