Swansea 2 – 0 Barnsley

Barnsley’s winning run came to an end as they were beaten 2-0 by promotion chasing Swansea. Another early goal from Jamal Lowe in the first half was followed by an unfortunate Adeboyejo own goal in the second half. It was a fairly poor game overall with the truly awful pitch limiting what both sides could do with the ball on the ground. 

It was a poor performance overall by the away side who would have expected better given recent results but the pitch did not help things at all. It was as bad a pitch as I have seen for a very long time and you’d do well to see one any worse in the Sunday league. It was however the same for both teams so no complaints in that respect. Barnsley were second best after the break and the home side deserved the three points.

For the third game in a row, the reds started poorly and found themselves a goal down within the first few minutes. This is something to worry about and this match was one too many for this team to come back like they had done in the last few games, Barnsley responded well to the early setback and came close via a freekick from Captain Alex Mowatt. His curling effort was saved well though by on-loan goalkeeper Woodman.

I felt we were the better team for the majority of the first half as we dominated possession for once and had a lot of play in the final third and got balls in to the box but just couldn’t create clear cut opportunities.

Swansea however always looked more threatening as our back line struggled to cope with the pace they had up front and always looked in trouble from long balls forward. Walton had to be deployed as a sweeper at times because of this and although he made one terrific tackle, he was also booked for a foul.

Swansea dealt well with the Barnsley attacks and nearly went two up with half time approaching. A clearance out was flicked on by Ayew and Dhanda raced onto the ball and looked to be through 1v1.

Walton came sprinting out of his box to try and snuff out the danger but he was slightly too slow and wiped Dhanda out 30 yards from goal. Luckily for the young Keeper, he had defenders back covering so it was only a yellow card. And I also think Dhanda played for the contact even though you could say Walton was reckless.

Just after the hour mark, the Swans went two up and it was an unlucky goal for Barnsley to concede. A corner was floated in from the right and was inadvertently flicked home by sub Adeboyejo at the near post. He was trying to head the ball clear but mistimed his jumped and ended up diverting the ball into the far corner.

It has to be said that Adeboyejo certainly makes an impact when he comes on and he was yet again on the score sheet but unfortunately this was at the wrong end.

A shame for the young striker who has come off the bench to good effect in recent games especially in mid-week where he scored the winner.

Barnsley struggled to create anything at all after the second and looked poor overall in the second half. The only chance of note fell to Adeboyejo who looked to atone for his earlier own goal but fired over from inside the area.

Ayew was caught in possession on the edge of his own box by George Miller, he found Oduor who picked out Adeboyejo but his curling effort sailed over the bar.

One criticism I still have of this manager is that his substitutions are all like for like. You know the wide strikers are coming off every game and probably both midfielders. At 1 – 0 and  2 – 0 down I’d like to see him actually go and try and get something and sacrifice a centre half for an extra midfielder or attacker. It baffles me that there isn’t more criticism of managers who only play one way and don’t change no matter what.

The Reds will look to put this set back behind them and go again next week against Huddersfield in a Yorkshire Derby. They will have a week to prepare for the game as we have no midweek games this week which I think will be welcomed by most teams especially Barnsley who looked a little tired and off the pace in this one. Then follows another derby against Rotherham. Just what us fans really enjoy at Christmas time and it is just a shame we cannot attend at the moment.

COYR