MORAIS BOW ENDS IN LOSS
New Barnsley manager is undone by Burton, Middlesbrough beat Hull
CONVERSANT in seven different languages he may be, but Jose Morais will have been acutely aware of the need for actions to speak louder than words on his opening night.
Substance was always likely to prevail over style in a game of seminal importance in which the consequences of losing will not have needed to be spelled out to either club.
It was the sort of taut, pressure-laden occasion that you often get at this time of year, but it was Burton who possessed the nerve as Barnsley – inexplicably and horribly – choked in front of the new man for the majority of a critical evening.
In arguably their most important league game since returning to the Championship in time for the 2016-17 campaign, Barnsley picked the worst possible time to throw in a contender for their most painful and abject performance since promotion. Certainly in the first hour.
Given a warm reception ahead of kick-off, Morais’s honeymoon lasted all of 57 seconds with Burton hitting the hosts with a hammer blow.
On a night when the first goal was always likely to be hugely significant, the Brewers were toasting a golden moment from Jamie Allen, who picked an opportune time to score his first goal in professional football with a sweet drive from distance with the hosts having barely touched the ball.
An encore to a pitiful half arrived with another milestone moment just before the break when loanee Jacob Davenport registered his maiden strike in senior football as an already grim evening assumed nightmare proportions.
Barnsley did show more intent in the final half-hour and afforded themselves a lifeline on a night of firsts with Daniel Pinillos netting his opening goal for the Reds.
But it was not enough, with too much damage having unfortunately been done earlier on a night when the result was everything.
The upshot is that Burton jump off the basement, with Barnsley dropping a place to second-frombottom ahead of huge survival trips to Birmingham and Hull – the development that all home fans would have dreaded before kick-off.
Many factors have contributed to the Reds’ strained campaign and their lamentable home form is close to the top of that list.
Oakwell has witnessed just three league wins in the past 12 months, with the Reds now without a home victory in nine matches since early November, with the fact that Burton’s haul of away points is now five more than Barnsley’s tally on home soil being damning.
After enduring the worst possible start, Barnsley palpably struggled to regroup, despite being cajoled incessantly from his technical area by Morais, with Burton showing any vestiges of control in a scrappy half which suited them immensely.
That said, Davenport’s strike was far from ugly and applied considerable gloss.
It was soon obvious that it had the makings of a long and difficult night for the Reds, handed a searching examination of their character, but unable to find the answers in a thoroughly disjointed and confidence-sapped opening half.
The hosts’ inability to conjure a telling final ball, an Achilles heel for much of this season, was again exposed, with top-scorer Tom Bradshaw and loanee Oliver McBurnie, seeing the game pass them by.
It took Barnsley 33 minutes to conjure a first effort on goal and even then, it was a thoroughly token one, with Joe Williams firing almost apologetically wide with the hosts demonstrably lacking the wit and belief to trouble the visitors.
Perfectly happy to sit on their gains, Burton, whose organisation, shape and work-rate was immaculate, could reflect on a wellexecuted first half.
As the half progressed, the agitation from home fans understandably grew deeper and it reached a crescendo after the visitors plundered a delectable second.
After a foul on Hope Akpan, previously denied by a key block from Andy Yiadom, Davenport claimed his own personal moment with a flighted free-kick.
Some 53 minutes in, Barnsley finally mustered some serious intent, with Adam Hammill’s angled strike parried by Stephen Bywater.
Sustained pressure, borne out of desperation, eventually arrived with Bywater fielding Gary Gardner’s free-kick before the Reds midfielder nipped in front of him before supplying McBurnie, whose goalbound effort was blocked by Tom Naylor.
McBurnie then saw his header hit the bar with Matt Mills heading the rebound over a gaping goal before a deflected drive from Pinillos gave the hosts hope as they laid siege, belatedly.
A stoppage-time leveller ruled out for offside from substitute Mamadou Thiam summed up Barnsley’s rotten night.