[jjamez]

Who Let The Dogs Out?

 
Yes it is the dogpound derby as highflying Huddersfield make the long trek to Oakwell in order to face fellow surprise package Barnsley. The Tykes were predicted to finish somewhere in the lower midtable regions of the table, but currently find themselves 9th, 9 points off a playoff place, but at this time of the season, that can be made up in a week, with the games coming thick and fast.

They have had a rather bland february in some regards, losing against Brighton last saturday, whilst coming out 3-1 victors against Aston Villa. Other than that it has goalless. However, following their january transfer business it could be said it was expected as they sold Sam Winnall to Sheffield Wednesday, Conor Hourihane and Jack Bree both to Villa, whilst they replaced them with Leeds' Alex Mowatt and Leicester City's Matty James, brother of former Town loanee Reece James.

January did see Barnsley keep highly regarded coach Paul Heckingbottom and has seen them continue as a gritty side that fight for every available point. He will be serving a one match touchline ban this weekend and will be in the stands for the game against Town. The season so far shows that this Barnsley side have taken part in a fair few 0-0 games, but have also earned their right to be in contention for the playoffs, hard earned wins against Leeds, Cardiff and Norwich, coupled with expansive wins against Wolves and Birmingham show this. However, Town can go into this game knowing that there could well be goals to be had as since the turn of the year this Barnsley side have conceed 2 goals or more on 5 occassions, 4 of which have come on home turf. If any of you are betting people it could be worth going for a both teams to score, whilst I do think this fixture will be decided late on once again, but maybe that is just typical town.



So what happened the last time the two sides met? Well for those of you who dont remember, town ran out 2-1 winners Jonathan Hogg scored, yes you guessed it, a late winner, after full back Chris Lowe scored his first goal in English football, only for current Swansea centre half Alfie Mawson to score just after half time. How or why Hogg found himself in the Barnsely box is anyones guess but as he claimed on Tuesday night, he closed his eyes and hoped for the best. Barnsley fans can rest easy in the knowledge that he won't be in Wagners squad this weekend, but he is expected to return to training not long after and may be ready for the Newcy game.



So what famous faces 'follow' Barnsley?

Well for us Yorkshire folk they are pretty much obvious. Former cricket umpire and ever jovial Yorkshire CCC president Dickie Bird

He has a statue up in Barnsley and has also partly funded Yorkshires new players pavillion at Headingley. Cant say I know much about his umpiring but one would think he would be a bit of a crack pot out in the middle

Former Yorkshire and England pace bowler and current radio gobsh8 Darren Gough

Here he can be seen reminding Shane Watson about the ghost that caused him to sleep on team mate Brett Lee's floor the day before the ODI in Durham. He represented England a fair few times and is one of the few bowlers to take an Ashes Hattrick. Probably didnt live up to expectations despite fairly good stats. His county stats are also decent and probably shows he missed out due to others performing

And finally, television legend and another cricket enthusiast Michael Parkinson

Interviewed many famous faces with his last show including the likes of David Beckham and Peter Kay (with his Victoria sponge) also interviewed the likes of Muhammad Ali over his television career that spanned decades.

Now what about the more familliar faces to both sets of supporters?

Lets start off with Mr Lollipop himself, ladies and gentlemen... Adam Hammill

The former Liverpool and Wolves winger joined town when they finally got promoted to the championship. He initially joined on loan scoring 2 goals in 16 appearances, dazzling fans with his countless step overs. He then joined on a permanent deal from Wolves. That spell saw him make 50 more appearances for the club before being exiled to Rotherham and then Barnsley. He probably didnt help himself by punching a paramedic and other unsavory actions.
His affinity with Barnsley has been a rather long standing one. He initially joined the club on loan from Liverpool before joining permanently. His performances in his first spell saw then premiership wolves splash the cash in order to lure him to Mollineux.

A current town face that used to represent Barnsley is Martin Cranie. He joined town from the reds at the start of last season

The versatile defender started his career down on the south coast at Southampton and bounced between other southern clubs such as Pompey and Bournemouth. He eventually settled down at then championship club Coventry City where he made 114  appearances. He eventually left and joined Barnsley on a one year deal which was eventually extended, making 110 appearances for the side, as well as eventually captaining the side. His time at Barnsley was hampered by injuries and some off the field problems (not Hammillesque). The club tried to sell him to reduce costs, whilst he still remained captain. Eventually he was released due to his wages and joined Huddersfield following a trial. He has found himself as a squad player at town and signed a contract extension the other week to stay at the club.

Another more recent face for Town fans that has played for both is Jacob Butterfield. He started his professional career at the Tykes playing 89 games, scoring 8 goals

He left the club to join Norwich and failed to make a league appearance for the club, with injuries also curtailing his game time. He left on loan to Bolton and Crystal Palace before eventually settling at Middlesbrough. He only lasted a season there before moving to town as part of the deal that saw Adam Clayton go to the Riverside. After one year at town, he left to join big spending Derby where he is currently still playing his football. It'll be the first time he has spent two years at a club since his time at Barnsley.

Paul Hayes featured at town, all be it on loan from Barnsley. He made only 4 appearances town scoring 1 goal. His time at Barnsley yielded 13 goals in 78 appearances, before a future loan spell saw him make another 7 appearances with no goals. He now plays for Wycombe and scored most recently in the memorable FA cup game against Tottenham.


Injury prone full back Robbie Williams also played for both sides. Famed for his powerful shot, he came through the Barnsley academy, turning professional and scored 4 goals in 66 games. He joined Town under Andy Ritchie, despite a broken leg and made 77 appearances and scored 4 goals. He left Town for Stockport and can now be found plying his trade in Ireland.



Other notable mentions

Luke Beckett- came through the academy at Barnsley, but never made a professional appearance for the side.  He joined town on loan from Sheffield United as Town lost out to Barnsley in the Playoffs. He later joined full time and scored 23 goals in 78 games, including scoring against then premiership side Birmingham as town pulled off a cup upset. He eventually left for Gainsborough.
Jake Charles- Grandson of former Juventus striker John. The winger was highly rated by those at town but found his progress halted by injury. He joined Barnsleys development side in January
Jordan Rhodes- Was part of Barnsleys youth academy, but left to join Ipswich where his father was a member of the backroom staff.

Other coaching links- former Town goalkeeping coach John Vaughan is now training Barnsleys goalkeepers.
Former town manager Andy Ritchie also managed Barnsley. He oversaw a playoff promotion to the championship at the tykes, which included knocking Town out. I remember those fixtures as town taking the advantage going into the home leg, but barnsley bounced back, beating town 3-1, thanks in part to a relatively large goalkeeping mistake.

For those who are off on saturday look here for parking ect https://twitter.com/htafcslo it should all be in the pictures bit

Last time Barnsley played this was the last starting line up

Barnsley

   1 Davies
   29 Jones
   4 Roberts
   5 MacDonald
   17 Yiadom
   15 Watkins
   10 Moncur Substituted for Mowatt at 80'minutes
   36 James
   40 Kent Substituted for R Williams at 80'minutes
   20 Bradshaw Substituted for Hammill at 63'minutes
   32 Armstrong

Substitutes

   7 Hammill
   11 Lee
   13 Townsend
   18 Jackson
   27 Mowatt
   28 R Williams
   38 Elder

following the 2-0 defeat I would expect that Hammill and Mowatt may both return to the starting lineup, plus Mowatt has previous of scoring against us.

Other players to keep an eye on would be;

Marc Roberts- a strong centre half who used to play for Halifax. Possesses a long throw that could cause town some problems. He's managed to adjust to full time football and has also been linked with a move to the premiership.


Tom Bradshaw- A rather prolific goalscorer in leagues 1 and 2, leading to Barnsley spending around £1 mil to secure his services, also a Welsh international


Adam Armstrong- on loan from Newcastle, had a good spell at Coventry which saw him score a few goals, he is known for his hard working and robust style of play.



As for town, I would expect only a hand full of changes to the side that played Reading on Tuesday.

My team for Saturday would be

Ward in goal
Smith at right back
Hef and Schindler at centre back
Lowe at left back
Mooy and whitehead in mid- I can see philbill playing at manc which would be 4 on the bounce if he featured against Barnsley
Kach out right
rajiv out left
brown if well down the middle
quaner up top- nahki seemed to be struggling at the end against Reading, save him for a bench appearance

the bench would be made up of- Coleman, Craine, Billing, Payne, Lolley, Wells, Hudson/Stanko

Now for the penalty conundrum....

I found it rather embarrassing on Tuesday, first Nahki wants it, then Izzy, Izzy lets it go and Wagner points and says something to Billing, who passes it on, only for Rajiv to take it. Now if he had scored it would have been fine and nothing really said, but he missed and it looked like it damaged the confidence big time. After the game Wagner said he wanted Lowe to take it and that there would be a clear list from now on. Who would be your 5 takers?

Mine would be;
Brown- took the one against Rochdale and scored, so let him keep going
Lowe- has been a penalty taker at his previous clubs
Mooy- has always looked composed on the ball so I would like to think it would be the same from 12 yards
Schindler- another composed player and I dont think it would faze him that much
Wells- it was either him or hef, I'm not that confident about Wells' composure and confidence atm, seems too easily talked out of doing things. as for Hef he would just blast it

I passed on Kach as I am not conviced about his finishing as such, he's doing well at poaching goals from close range, but I dont know about him being one on one yet.

over to you guys


The Heffing dream continues

[Lord Snooty]

From @PaulMoon76 on Twitter.

This fell out of Wagner's pocket

[theo_luddite]

Nice one jjamez

Think someone would have to tee it up for Kachunga to head in, not checked but my gut feel is he scores more with his head than his feet. Any forward that doesn't fancy a free go at goal from 12 yards can have a free go at playing for a lower league team in my book. What the hell do we pay them for if not to score goals?

Otherwise - a spit hood for Hammill, new shooting boots for Van the Man and a cracking atmosphere likely all round.

[Lord Snooty]

Nice one, jjamez by the way.

Not going to this one, even though we could hoy a stone to Oakwell from our house. At 30 quid, they're just wanting a wee bit too much and I know we're forking out to go to the cup replay and this match is far more important, the triviality of collecting new grounds to add to the list has to take importance, as we may never get another chance.

[theo_luddite]

PS - which Sue? There's 2 of 'em. Never mind, give both a go. What about the kit man?

[Lord Snooty]

Yes, Brooky the kitman should've been high up the list.

---

Unexamined says the last time we won 7 league games on the bounce was in the promotion season of 82/83, when young Lillis was banging em in for fun.

[theo_luddite]

Thought I'd add the latest Yorkshire League results as there's 2 derby games this weekend.

Table is in no particular order but currently Town are top at the moment. We play our last derby match this weekend, coincidentally Barnsley at home was our first. Leeds play their last derby too at home to Wendies. Wendies still have to play both Barnsley and Rotherham away so could easily catch us.

Read down the table so you get for instance Town's results at home with points gained followed by our results away. Our goals scored are shown first whether at home or away. Total goals and goal difference is shown below the results table. Same for Barnsley etc. in their columns.

[SHEP_HTAFC]

Great thread jjamez
Lots of info and a few facts I had no idea about.

So this game does worry me. Barnsley will give it a right go I think.
We might need to soak up a lot of pressure in this one....and hopefully hit them with a goal or two in the 2nd half.
I'm going to stick with my 1-3 prediction....however the scoreline might well flatter us.
For me, Billing and Mooy both have to start, with Whitehead on the bench. Wells and Kachunga up top.

[Jeebers]

Yorkshire derby, Barnsley will come at us like they did with the yids, should be a cracker of an open game, can see a few goals scored in this one

[WakeyTerrier]

Nice one, jjamez by the way.

Not going to this one, even though we could hoy a stone to Oakwell from our house. At 30 quid, they're just wanting a wee bit too much and I know we're forking out to go to the cup replay and this match is far more important, the triviality of collecting new grounds to add to the list has to take importance, as we may never get another chance.

Thought this would be the top of the list at the start of the season, it's a home game for you these days.
Still chance to get a ticket if you change your mind?

Always loved playing Barnsley, best mate at school was a Barnsley supporter and we always took the mock out of each other's teams growing up. Nowadays it's a work colleague who I have 'banter' with, he going on Saturday and it's his 2nd game of the season(the other being the reverse fixture). He keeps telling me all the pressure is on us, I don't see how it is to be honest.