Barnsley stamp play-off intentions in a thriller on the south coast

In arguably the biggest match of the weekend, 6th place Barnsley travelled to 7th place Bournemouth with both teams knowing a win would guarantee them a place in the top 6 at the end of the day. With Cardiff facing a difficult visit from in form Watford, a win would potentially give the winner some breathing space on the teams below them.

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Barnsley started the game nervously, despite being in fantastic form with 3 fouls in the opening minutes in a desperate attempt to get hold of the ball early. They appeared to have calmed down by the 10th minute and had the first shot of the game shorty after which was blocked in the centre of the box. This appeared to shock Bournemouth on who, not 90 seconds later, found themselves behind to a tap in from Barnsley’s Helik.

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This lead only lasted 5 minutes however before Groeneveld levelled the game at 1-1. The next 20 minutes saw the two teams incredibly evenly matched with both making important blocks and trying their best to go in at half time with the all-important lead. With the half coming to an end, Andersen was shown a yellow for Barnsley after a nasty tackle on Adam Smith, who after a couple of minutes of treatment was forced to be subbed. Barnsley were perhaps lucky to not be down to 10 men.

 

Just as the half looked like it was going to end level, Bournemouth struck again. Solanke, who just a minute before had missed a good chance, smashed the ball past Collins and into the net. Collins, after keeping a clean sheet on his 100th career appearance in the week, will have felt he should have done better. 2-1 to the hosts at half-time.

 

Barnsley manager Ismaël made 3 changes to his team at half time which had the desired impact. Having only managed 5 shots in the first half, they had doubled this figure by the 60th minute. Their constant assault on the Bournemouth goal then paid off with Frieser finishing neatly for the visitors to level the scores at 2-2, a result with neither team would be too happy with.

 

From then on it only looked like there would be one winner. Barnsley continued to attack and then in the 80th minute Morris headed home an inch perfect cross from Mowatt. This proved to be the last real chance of the game with the Barnsley defence limiting Bournemouth to only 1 tame shot from distance in their hunt for an equaliser.

 

The perfect day for Barnsley was capped off by the news of a 94th minute winner for Watford against Cardiff. The welsh sides lose means that they are 5 points clear of the Cherries in 7th and 7 points clear of the Bluebirds in 8th. With a trip to bottom side Wycombe in the week follows for Barnsley with Bournemouth hoping to bounce back in a difficult game against high flying Swansea.

 

Man of the Match: Michal Helik – despite conceding twice, made a few crucial blocks to keep Barnsley in the match in the first half. Also got the ball rolling with the first goal of the game.

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