Oakwell’s gone Wild as belief returns
BARNSLEY M’BROUGH...
CHRIS WILDER’S promotion hopefuls were left stunned as Barnsley’s fight for survival got well underway.
The Tykes still have a mountain to climb but history suggests it’s not mission impossible.
After all, this is the time of year when they produce their now customary hot streak.
Twelve months ago, they won seven in a row to go from relegation fodder to play-off contenders and two years back they lost just four of their last 14 games to stay up after looking dead and buried.
The Oakwell crowd are starting to believe.
They haven’t had much to shout about lately but when Moroccan Amine Bassi made it 3-0 in the 54th minute with his second of the game after Mads Andersen broke the deadlock early on, they were singing: “The Reds are staying up”.
Head coach Poya Asbaghi said: “Boro are a good team but we did not want to show them too much respect.
“We are playing better football now and feel we have momentum.”
His mood was in stark contrast to Wilder who said: “The first 15 minutes cost us and the attitude of our back three.
“We’re shooting ourselves in the foot.”
Wilder’s men created plenty of chances to rescue a point.
Andraz Sporar fired home from the penalty spot on 61 minutes and Dael Fry tapped home deep into injury time, while Aaron Connolly had a goal disallowed.
BARNSLEY: Collins 6; Williams 6, Andersen 7, Helik 7, Vita 6 (Kitching (68th)
5); Styles 6, Gomes 6; Quinia 6, Bassi 8 (Brittain (69th) 6), Wolfe 7; Morris 7 (Cole
77th)
MIDDLESBROUGH: Lumley 4; Dijksteel 5, Fry 5, McNair 5; Jones 6, Siliki 4 (Balogun
(46th) 7), Howson 6, Tavernier 6, Taylor
5 (Boyd-Munce (69th) 6), Watmore 4 (Connolly (46th) 6), Sporar 5
STAR MAN: Amine Bassi
REF: J Linnington