Barnsley U21’s vs. Nottingham Forest U21’s
Line up -
GK – Conor Mackey
2 – Sam Patterson
3 – George Smith
4 – Brad Abbott
5 – Jordan Tunnicliffe
6 – Lewin Nyatanga
7 – Paddy McCourt (Off for McCauley Shilito 90mins)
8 – Paul Digby © (Off for Wade Joyce 23mins)
9 – Danny Rose (Off for Darren McKnight 86mins)
10 – John Cofie
11 – Jordan Clark
12 – Darren McKnight (On for Danny Rose 86mins)
13 – Danny Rusling
14 – Erico Sousa
15 – McCauley Shilito (On for Paddy McCourt 90mins)
16 – Wade Joyce (On for Digby 23mins)
Barnsley’s Under 21’s hosted Nottingham Forest’s Under 21’s at Oakwell yesterday afternoon, in another Professional Development League game. The Tykes took all three points after beating the visitors 4-1, in a game which included two penalties and a red card, all for the home side.
The game initially started in rather tedious fashion, as Forest held the majority of possession. However, Manager Paul Heckingbottom remained confident with his side as the Reds stood firm and defended well. “I thought Forest started the game really well, lots of good possession, lots of good movement," said Heckingbottom.
"They’ve (Forest) obviously worked really hard on playing out from the back and keeping possession of the ball, but we defended against that really well.” he added.
Unfortunately, Heckingbottom’s side suffered an inconvenient loss mid-way through the first half, after Captain Paul Digby was forced off due to a minor injury, and had to be replaced by Wade Joyce.
Yet this didn’t hinder the home side and although the visitors enjoyed the majority of first half possession, it was Barnsley’s Danny Rose who managed to break the dead-lock in the last minute of the first half. As the young, in form striker swiftly eluded an approaching defender before rolling the ball into the back of the net.
“The organisation was really good. Despite Forest having possession, they never really had a chance in the first half, yet we had three or four and should have been three or four up, which probably would not have been a fair reflection in terms of possession.” Added Heckingbottom.
The second half kicked off and with no less than two minutes played Barnsley added another goal, as Jordan Tunnicliffe fired the ball in from close range, after a corner to the back post was sent hurtling back into a packed goal-mouth.
The game then calmed once again, yet just after the hour mark Forest’s Derek Otim broke Barnsley’s strong defensive line, resulting in a desperate challenge a yard outside the area from full-back Sam Patterson, who saw red for his efforts.
This one man advantage seemed to give the visitors some added enthusiasm, which resulted in midfielder David Morgan firing in a tremendous effort from distance past keeper Conor Mackey, bringing the score back up to 2-1 on 65 minutes.
“The sending off then changed things. For five minutes we were all over the place, but we got the message across that nothing changes. Once we got that, their mind-set was exactly the same; lots of composure, even with ten men and lots of good decision making. Overall the lads can be really pleased with what they’ve done.” Said Heckingbottom.
However, the visitors’ momentum was short-lived as Barnsley were awarded a questionable penalty, after Danny Rose flew into a 50/50 challenge and ended up on the floor, much to the disbelief of the travelling bench.
Striker John Cofie stood up to convert what would be his first penalty of the match in quick succession.
Cofie’s second spot-kick came almost ten minutes later, after Danny Rose was again brought down in the area. The confident striker netted his second of the game, and this time chose to go in the other direction, again sending the keeper the wrong way.
“A good win, in terms of performance I thought they were really organised, and we worked really hard.
We were playing effective football.” Added Heckingbottom.
