Oakwell Tuesday 16th August 2022
Barnsley 3
Cole (3), Williams (13), Benson (56)
Bristol Rovers 0
Referee: Darren Drysdale Attendance: 9,689
Following their impressive performance against Oxford United Rovers travelled to Barnsley, newly relegated from the Championship, hoping to make it three wins on the bounce.
Gasheads travelling to Oakwell suffered a treacherous journey, enjoying sunshine, enduring grey skies and suffering in torrential rain, so bad that the outside lane of the motorway resembled a river!
That passed, though, and it was dry before the night’s venue was reached; a perfect evening for football, or so we thought. The heavens opened as the teams emerged from the tunnel for kick off and didn’t stop for the next 90 minutes!
Skipper Paul Coutts was recalled to the starting lineup, in place of Glenn Whelan, but Rovers began on the back foot and stayed there all night!
Devante Cole squeezed the ball into the net from an impossibly tight angle on the left after only three minutes and a wicked deflection from a Jordan Williams effort just 10 minutes later completely wrong footed James Belshaw and gave Barnsley a two goal advantage.
That the home side didn’t score again in the opening period remains a mystery as they totally dominated proceedings. Cole and Callum Styles saw attempts saved by Belshaw, while other Barnsley efforts drifted wide of the upright or were blocked by some desperate Rovers defending.
The closest Rovers came to scoring in the half, indeed in the game, arrived with five of the 45 minutes remaining when Aaron Collins played in Harvey Saunders and his ball into the box was cut out as John Marquis eyed up his second goal in as many games.
A triple substitution and a change of formation at the start of the second half had very little effect, as Barnsley continued to dominate and added a third goal on 56 minutes when Belshaw’s clearance from a Saunders back pass found Josh Benson and he quickly rifled the ball back past the keeper and into the net from some thirty yards out.
The keeper did superbly well to deny his former team mate, Luke Thomas, a goal when he managed to touch the ball away from the midfielder as he was about to pull the trigger.
Rovers continued to battle away, but failed to create a goalscoring opportunity and their inability to master the conditions and a very good Barnsley side showed that there is a great deal of work to be done if they are to establish themselves at this level.
It’s early days, though, and far too soon to be critical of performances after only four league games. The manager was, as always, totally honest about the evening’s performance and refused to criticise any individual. It was a poor performance collectively, of that there can be no doubt.
However, there’s a long season ahead and the transfer window remains open for another two weeks which gives the manger time to assess his squad and bring in reinforcements, whether that be by making permanent signings or utilising the loan market in the way he did so successfully last season.
Barnsley: Collins, Cundy, Andersen, Kitching, Williams (McCarthy, 74), Connell, Benson, Styles, Thomas (Wolfe, 74), Cole (Marsh, 83), Aitchison (Norwood, 62).
Substitutes: Walton, Oduor, Hondermarck.
Bristol Rovers: Belshaw, Anderson (Kilgour, 84), Hoole, Connolly, Gordon (Gibson, 46), Finley (Loft, 67), Coutts (Whelan, 46), Evans (Rossiter, 46), Saunders, Collins, Marquis.
Substitutes: Jaakkola, Lawrence.
ALSO
Former Rovers loanee Luke Thomas was in the Barnsley side
Yellow cards were issued to Sam Finley, Paul Coutts and James Connolly
Paul Coutts began the game as skipper and the armband passed to Glenn Whelan when he was substituted
Five substitutes used
Five added minutes
(Photos courtesy of JMP)
Keith Brookman