BLUES ARE BURNED BY OLI DOUBLE
NEW Barnsley boss Jose Morais insists he is not thinking about the prospect of relegation and is expecting surprises from his players after a win over fellow strugglers Birmingham.
Oli McBurnie’s first-half double, either side of a saved penalty from the Swansea loanee, secured Morais his maiden win in the Oakwell hotseat as the Yorkshire side triumphed for only the second time in 18 league outings.
And Morais hailed his side’s belief and attitude as they jumped ahead of the Blues and out of the drop zone.
“I don’t even think about it,” he said when asked of avoiding relegation. “We have a lot of games to play, we have a lot of points to pick. The number of points that we have to pick is so big, and we don’t need all of them.
“I’m expecting many surprises from my players. I’m a positive person and I tell them, ‘Just surprise me’. What I’m expecting from them is surprises and much more, but in a positive way.
“I’m delighted with the win and more with the attitude and the performance and with the belief of my players.”
The Blues could have gone ahead on 10 minutes when Jeremie Boga’s neat skills fooled the Barnsley defense and his shot richocheted in the box, with Che Adams collecting and scuffing a loose effort at Nick Townsend.
But the Tykes made them pay two minutes later when Mamadou Thiam’s dangerous cross was hooked in by McBurnie to hand Barnsley the lead.
Thiam darted down the right and delivered for Kieffer Moore whose blocked shot was laid off by Brad Potts to McBurnie, who drew a smart 16th-minute save from David Stockdale.
Moments later referee Jeremy Simpson pointed to the spot for former Barnsley man Marc Roberts’ foul on McBurnie, but Stockdale pulled off a sublime diving fingertip stop to his left to deny the Tykes forward.
Sam Gallagher fired a 19thminute effort just wide at a revitalised St Andrew’s, but the Tykes made it two when Moore’s header down looked to be within Stockdale’s grasp but the lively McBurnie robbed the loose ball and tapped home for his second nine minutes from the break.
Birmingham thought they had pulled one back when Townsend parried Adams’ stoppage-time strike into Roberts’ path but was flagged offside. And Andy Yiadom’s cross after the hour was nodded across goal by Moore, while the Reds striker glanced Connor Mahoney’s resulting corner just wide.
Barnsley stopper Townsend had a nervous moment when he was charged down by Gallagher and the Blues marksman found Adams, who would have pulled one back were it not for Liam Lindsay’s expert 65th-minute sliding block, but Birmingham succumbed to their fourth successive loss.
“They look frightened to play at home. Teams coming here will know that,” said Blues boss Steve Cotterill. “We didn’t start the game in the first half, we didn’t start the game anywhere near we have done. We were unrecognizable really to how we were a month ago. We looked frightened to death to play out there because there wasn’t anybody getting on the ball, we didn’t have that.
“In the second half, it’s easier to play when you’re 2-0 down when you’ve got nothing to lose.
“They’re just fearful, you can see that in them.”