Barnsley trip perfect for Terriers to Tyke stock!

TERRIERS fans have been trained to expect the worst when they make winter trips to Oakwell.

From the 7-1 defeat in late November 1998, to a 4-2 loss in January 2005, to back-to-back 2-1 losses in January and December 2020, this has not been a happy cold-weather hunting ground for Huddersfield Town over the years – despite their excellent record against Barnsley on their own turf.

The past two seasons’ trips to the nearby tip of south Yorkshire have shown the Terrier’s problems in big letters.

They were too late to respond to get anything in a poor performance under the Cowleys in 2019/20 as a confidence-stricken side desperately in need of recruits retreated into their shells after going a goal behind.

Then 11 months later they produced a calamitous collapse as they failed to hold onto the lead given to them by Rarmani EdmondsGreen – an irritating trend even when things were broadly good for Carlos Corberan’s side.

Emile Smith Rowe and Richard Stearman were watching from the stands for that January 2020 trip, and alongside Harry Toffolo both came into the side for the next game, at home to Brentford, to help solve many of the issues an increasingly injury-hit Town side had experienced to that point – but only to the extent that they were able to roughly maintain their league position through to the end of the campaign.

Last season, that Boxing Day warning sounded much more urgently, with their victory over Blackburn three days later proving to be their last win for 10 games.

Corberan was forced to effectively field a youth side in the FA Cup game against Plymouth, such was the extent of his injury problems, and Town’s league form abandoned them altogether for the rest of the season.

For a third campaign in a row, then, Town head to Barnsley below full strength with Jonathan Hogg, Pipa, Jordan Rhodes and Alex Vallejo all ruled out of tomorrow’s game.

For a third season in a row, fans will have half a mind on

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what the January transfer might bring to help the side out. And for the third season in a row, Oakwell marks a crossroads in Town’s entire season.

As it is, Corberan seems confident that another freefall like last season’s is not impending, pointing out that this season’s squad is much better equipped than last year’s to cope with a severe injury crisis should their current list of five first-team absentees increase.

In stark contrast to last year, they have so far suffered just one serious muscle injury all season in Duane Holmes, who came back into the side against Boro after three weeks out.

We might also add that their two lengthiest lay-offs from this point onwards are Hogg and Vallejo, who should be back by the end of January, and Corberan believes that with everyone fit, his squad is good enough that they have a ‘special opportunity’ of achieving something this season.

It shouldn’t be forgotten, either, that despite the recent gloom, Town are still eighth in the table, just five points off the play-off places.

But it also shouldn’t be overlooked that they come into this fixture off the back of just one win in their last five games, back-to-back defeats, and their worst team performance of the season at home to Middlesbrough. The league table is congested enough that for all they are only five points off sixth, they also sit just five points clear of 18th.

The more jaded corners of the Town fanbase are insistent that all those recent signs point toward another precipitous slide down the league table, and even away from home, failing to get a result against a Barnsley side that has won just twice all season and would be bottom were it not for Derby County’s points deduction would swell those pessimists’ ranks considerably.