Cup tie too Far for Dan as Val’s men are Styles better!
DANIEL FARKE’S high-flying Canaries were brought back down to earth, leaving Barnsley to dream of a glamour FA Cup visit from Chelsea.
That is, of course, if Frank Lampard’s men beat Luton. But one thing is certain, Valerien Ismael’s spirited side deserved this win which left Norwich to concentrate on their ambitions of returning to the Premier League at the first attempt.
And for Barnsley, if Chelsea do end up arriving in these parts next month, the locals can evoke memories of a famous quarter-final victory against the Londoners in 2008 – a cup run which also involved beating Liverpool.
Farke didn’t take any consolation from only having promotion to worry about after witnessing a flat display from his team.
“We wanted to go to the next round but we had to find the right balance with the team I picked,” he said. “We are not happy but Barnsley were more focused and really went for this game. It was definitely not our best performance but I don’t want to criticise my team too much.”
Callum Styles was a constant bundle of energy up and down the Barnsley left flank and was on hand to apply the finish to settle this Oakwell clash.
There might not be much of him – he is only 5ft 6in – but the young livewire certainly packs a punch.
He doesn’t panic either as he proved just after the break. He seized upon an attempted clearance from Max Aarons following a deep cross from Callum Brittain, turned sharply and guided his low shot into the corner past Tim Krul’s despairing dive.
Boss Ismael said: “He is a player with big talent and now he has to stay at this level. This was a step in the right direction.
“We know we are close to being a top team. We are now starting to believe in ourselves.”
For most of the game Krul had been a one-man barrier against a flurry of Tykes attacks as Norwich appeared to be stuck in first gear.
No wonder Farke had made his way to the away dressing room at the interval shaking his head after seeing his table-toppers lose their way. And it didn’t get any better, Styles continued to threaten and Cauley Woodrow missed a great opportunity to make it 2-0. With 17 minutes to go Przemyslaw Placheta burst into the penalty area only to crash his drive against the underside of the bar and just when it looked like sub Emi Buendia would pounce, man of the match Styles produced a great block.
That would have been harsh on Barnsley.
BARNSLEY: Collins 6; Helik 7, Andersen 7, Sibbeck 7 (Sollbauer
79th), Styles 8; Brittain 7, Mowatt 7, Palmer 6 (Kane (46th) 6); Adeboyejo
6 (Chaplin (56th) 7), Frieser 7 (Miller
79th), Woodrow 6 (Schmidt 79th) NORWICH: Krul 8; Aarons 7, Hanley
6, Gibson 6, Sorensen 7; Rupp 6 (Vrancic 77th), Tetley 6 (Skipp
(64th) 6), Dowell 6 (Martin 77th); Hernandez 6 (Buendia (64th) 6), Placheta 7, Hugill 6 (Omotoye
(66th) 6)
STAR MAN: Callum
Styles
J Brooks