Barnsley second string very poor but EFL Trophy defeat not devastating
THE TWO competing thoughts while watching Barnsley exit the EFL Trophy on Wednesday were ‘this is awful’ and ‘it doesn’t really matter.’
The Reds’ second string were extremely poor, and very lucky to still be in with a chance towards the end thanks to substitute Tom Edwards’ wonderful goal with their only shot on target.
But, in a season in which they are focused on bouncing straight back to the Championship, the trophy has been used to blood young players and give those on the fringes of the squad minutes. It has done its job.
This midweek defeat is surely the last time this season that Barnsley can lose and not be overly disappointed with the result.
Any defeat from now on would dent promotion hopes or end a potentially lucrative and glorious FA Cup run which they are taking much more seriously than the trophy.
Their priorities were clearly shown by the fact that top-scorer Devante Cole was an unused substitute when the Reds were 2-1 down late on.
He could have earned them a penalty shoot-out but the Reds would have been slated if he had come on and picked up an injury which left them even more depleted in the strikers’ department.
You could argue that there was no point taking him to sit on the bench but the idea was to take the entire first team squad – other than the suspended James Norwood and Jordan Williams who is being carefully managed after his injury problems.
It was a slightly stronger team than in previous rounds, despite eight changes from Saturday’s league win over MK Dons. Barnsley had made ten changes for the first group game and 11 for the next two, with Liam Kitching and Josh Benson involved for the first time in this game.
Vale – who are just behind the Reds in League One and had won every trophy game without conceding – made just four changes from their home win over Charlton on Saturday, with no FA Cup match to prepare for at the weekend. 1-0 James Wilson, near halfway, cushions a ball out of defence to Rory Holden whose throughball plays in Dennis Politic behind the Reds defence on the left. He holds off Jasper Moon and beats Jack Walton one-on-one.
2-0 After Connor Hall bursts out of defence and swaps passes with Mal Benning down the left wing, he finds Wilson in the box who cleverly nudges it to Politic to whip the ball across the sixyard box from left to right. Wing-back David Worrall is left totally unmarked to sweep home at the back post.
2-1 After Josh Martin skips past a home player near halfway and plays a clever pass from left to right, Tom Edwards takes a very heavy first touch. But his second touch is a spectacular strike from almost 30 yards which goes over the goalkeeper.
None of the home 11 had played above League One except former Manchester United striker James Wilson, but they had plenty of lower league experience and their average age was 26 compared to Barnsley’s 22. Vale were far superior.
Both goals were down to good passing moves by the hosts but they were given too much space by Barnsley who were very passive and flat-footed.
The Reds’ passing was often wayward on a poor pitch, while they could never gain control of midfield or hold the ball up up front and were second to nearly every loose ball against a home side who looked more fired-up and alert.
The Reds were slightly better in the second half but, even then, there was spell of at least a minute in which they lost the ball several times in their own half and Michael Duff stormed down from his position behind the dugouts to shout angrily from the sidelines.
The match was summed up in injury-time when, with Barnsley pushing for a leveller, Benson took a throw-in to Robbie Cundy then ran forward, only for the five-yard pass to go behind him and out.
None of the fringe players given a chance really staked a claim to play in the first team.
Jasper Moon looked off the pace at times, maybe unsurprisingly after not playing league football this season. Jack Walton – although he made a good save – shanked the ball out of play several times with some poor kicking.
Josh Martin, a forward, was used at right wingback but, after barely venturing forward and seeing several good chances including the second goal come down his side, was moved into midfield before the break with Adam Phillips briefly on the right before being taken off at half-time.
The Reds changed to 4-4-2 for the second half – after bringing on Herbie Kane and Edwards who added solidity – with Martin on one wing and Harrison Nejman on the other.
Central midfielder Nejman was making his full debut having impressed off the bench in the group stages and for the under 23s. This will have been a learning experience for the 19-year-old who battled hard but was overwhelmed in the middle at times, as were more experienced team-mates, while he did not show his good passing range.
Another teenager on full debut, Jack Butterfill, got a chance up front due to Fabio Jalo’s illness and formed a diminutive front two with Jack Aitchison. On the few occasions they got the ball, they were dominated by the far taller Vale back three. It was a worrying sign of the lack of depth in attacking areas in this Barnsley squad.
Cundy, the tall centre-back, was eventually used as an emergency striker.
Barnsley had had two half-chances in the first ten minutes with Aitchison glancing a Kitching cross well wide with his head then Martin firing over from the edge of the box.
But they soon conceded from two of a wave of Vale attacks.
It should have been 3-0 before the break when Moon gifted Wilson the ball deep in his half and he sent in a cross from which David Worrall looked set to net a second but was denied by Walton with an excellent save at his near post.
Dennis Politic, who tormented the Reds all game, blazed over another fine chance for 3-0 when totally unmarked ten yards out midway through the second half.
Barnsley (3-5-2): Walton, mark out of ten: 7; Moon 5, Cundy 6, Kitching 6 (Edwards HT, 7); Martin 5, Benson 5, Nejman 6, Phillips 5 (Kane HT 6), Larkeche 5; Aitchison 5, Butterfill 5. Unused: Collins, Andersen, Cadden, Cole, Connell.
Yellow cards: Kitching. Goals: Edwards 75.
Port Vale (3-4-3): Stevens; Cass, Hall, Smith, Worrall (Jones 89mins); Garrity (Conlon HT),
Pett, Benning; Politic (Charsley 86mins), Holden (Massey 57), Wilson (Odubeko 57). Unused: Stone, Jones, Butterworth. Goals: Politic 15, Worrall 26.
Referee: Lewis Smith (Wigan).
Attendance: 1,306 (184 Barnsley fans).