Tudgay Header Earns Point
Again Mellis was causing havoc with yet another delivery on the stroke of half time but no Red shirt was on hand to tap home what would have been a simple goal.The wind was in the Reds’ sails and they surged forward once more with Noble-Lazarus having a shot blocked. Mellis hunted down the Burnley defence and capitalised on Mee’s slip to put in a fine cross that Shackell managed to just hack away.
Barnsley’s equaliser arrived as Marcus Tudgay opened his Reds account with a fine looping header. Golbourne was the provider from the left and Tudgay outleapt his man to loop over his former Owls team-mate from 10 yards.
McCann headed over after Austin got lucky before crossing for his team-mate on 27 minutes following a fairly quiet spell. Ross Wallace then blasted a 35-yarder wide ten minutes later after intercepting from Greening in the centre of the park.
The Reds responded well and there was plenty of support from the stands as they encouraged their side back into the match.
Barnsley started the brighter of the two teams but it was the visitors who went close first when a deflected effort looped wide of Steele’s right-hand post on four minutes. But on five minutes, it was 1-0 – another corner kick undid the Reds as Charlie Austin nodded in from six yards.
A trademark Marcus Tudgay goal cancelled out Charlie Austin’s early opener to earn his side a point at Oakwell, but in all fairness, it should have been all three for Keith Hill’s side.
Burnley 1 (Austin 5)
Reds 1 (Tudgay 38)
Barnsley’s passing was slick and it seemed this lack of confidence was just a myth. The Reds looked cool in possession, perhaps too much at times, but just needed a break in front of goal.
Burnley tried to shake things up by introducing Danny Ings for Marvyn Bartley and it didn’t take long for Ings to make an impact. Following Steele’s smart save of Wallace’s free-kick, Ings fired low at Steele’s post from 20 yards and the ball, fortunately, bounced away from danger.
Second half
Barnsley were passing Burnley off the park and it all culminated in a Buzsaky shot from 25 yards that Grant did well to hold onto. Barnsley’s first substitute followed soon after, with the tireless Davies being replaced by Emile Sinclair.
On 70 minutes Tudgay linked up intelligently with Davies, allowing the latter to crack off a vicious shot that just zipped wide of a sprawling Grant’s goal.
With three quarters of the match gone, chances dried up for both sides but Noble-Lazarus, making his first start of the season, was putting in a real shift out wide and certainly looked the part.
Overall, the Reds will be disappointed with just a point, particularly having bossed the second half.
Three minutes of added time was shown for the Reds to try and find that elusive winner. Emile Sinclair was cynically hacked down as he finally got his chance to run at goal, Duff was booked and Buzsaky stepped up to the free-kick but Grant was well placed to claim the ball at his top corner.
Suddenly Burnley showed a bit of bite after a poor second half, and Cranie had to hack clear a dangerous cross inside his own box.
Probably the loudest cheer of the night came as Jim O’Brien was introduced to the action as an 81st-minute substitute. The little Scot didn’t wait long for his first touch, and had it had slightly more power, his volley might have found the roof of the net from 25 yards. Teams:
MOTM chosen by Charter Oaks: Jonathan Greening
Attendance: 8, 610
Fourth Official: Ken Haycock
Assistant Referees: David Plowright and Daniel Meeson
Referee: Kevin Wright
Subs: Jensen, Lafferty, Stewart, Stanislas.
Burnley: Grant, McCann, Austin, Wallace (Vokes 84), Stock (Edgar 81), Shackell, Bartley (Ings 46), Duff, Trippier, Paterson, Mee.
Subs: Alnwick, Stones, Wiseman, Cywka, Dawson.
Reds: Steele, Cranie, Golbourne, Foster, McNulty, Greening, Tudgay, Buzsaky, Mellis (O’Brien 81), Noble-Lazarus, Davies (Sinclair 79).
