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Tuesday 31st March : Blackburn Rovers 2(1) Barnsley 1(0)

Watson / Eaden, Moses, Morgan, Jones(Liddell), Barnard / Redfearn, Bosancic, Bullock(Marcelle, Sheridan) / Hristov, Ward

This is a damn cruel game. When did we last win a game in the last five minutes? Two on the trot so nothing to show for two of the gutsiest performances of the season. Not the prettiest or best, but we just don't give in.

2 minutes after kickoff Hristov had a terrific early chance to score, set through one on one with the keeper he looked destined to set us off to a flyer. Sadly his shooting boots were left in the changing room and I sat back down telling myself that it had been a waste of time anyway to get excited. He never scores...

We didn't have to wait long for a goal though and sadly it was at our end. Dahlin worked in a one two though the centre of the defence somehow and lifted the ball over Watson then blasted the ball into the back of the empty net. Then Blackburn went into overdrive, we were overrun in midfield, every pass seemed to find it's man and every man was in space. Everytime we got the ball we would make a little progress up a wing then get forced back into our own and eventually back to Waston or a lame forward punt which would invariably leave us facing more pressure.

The first half wasn't all one way traffic, we did create chances. Redfearn had a free kick and from a corner Chris Morgan nearly opened his account before his visit to the disciplinary commission but his header rebounded off the bar and out into open space to be picked up by a Blackburn player. Scott Jones also once again seemed to cause a couple of problems again in the box.

From the last two defeats one player has increased stock value considerably. Hristov had another good game. (One and a bit in a row is good for the young lad..) In many of the moves created in both halves he was instrumental. True on a number of occasions his first touch let him down but as the game progressed he grew in confidence. His fourth goal of the season came early in the second half. A ball put over the top found him passed the rather static Blackburn back line and racing clear for another one on one. This time he made no mistake took it to his right the fired past the keeper low and hard. We were back in it.

Our equalising goal stung Blackburn into action and they produced a number of good moves. We nearly got in-front but for a linesman's flag. Marcelle made a good jumping challenge for the ball and headed it forward on to Hristov who pounced and raced clear and beat the keeper. Sadly in that challenge Marcelle received a blow which would eventually take him out of the game only a few minutes after he had got onto the pitch for Bullock.

Sheridan came on for Clint and so the formation changed a little and we were hanging on for the whistle. In the 87th minute Sheridan let a pass go astray near the half way line and Blackburn were on the attack again when they should have been worrying about there own defence, now minus Tim Flowers who went off with a shoulder injury just before Georgi's goal. From that mistake they moved forward. With an unlucky deflection the ball ended up at the feet of Kevin Gallager. He had time and space and from the edge of the Barnsley penalty area struck a shot which drove a knife into our survival hopes and the ball into our goal. Watson having to much ground to make up.

We were not dead and buried and had Georgi gone down under pressure from the Blackburn defence we may have had a penalty. But that fighting spirit though was too evident on one occasion as Bosancic picked up another booking for chatting back to the ref with only a couple of minutes to go. Forget about it Jovo get on with the game.

We really must get something out of the Leeds game on Saturday if we are to keep in touch with the other teams just above. Come on you Reds. And lets hope we  can give them the same rousing support from the stands.

28th March 1998 : Barnsley 2(1) Liverpool 3(1)

Watson / Eaden, Jones, Appleby, Morgan(Sent Off), Barnard(Sent Off) / Sheridan(Sent Off), Redfearn, Bullock(Bosancic) / Marcelle(Hristov), Fjortoft(Liddell)

"The Referees a W....."  Never has a song been more apt in describing the man in the middle. Other ways to describe him may be "Rubbish", "Poor", "Clueless". I'll stop at that because I'll be here until May if I continued. Lets just say that we may just start chanting "The referee's a Willard" the next time we get a crap one.

The game started off brightly with both sides creating some chances. Morgan did well early on in stopping a goal bound shot near the line and Watson made a couple of good saves. Going forward we looked quite dangerous considering we were playing with only one striker in Fjortoft. Marcelle got his chance to play up front along side and didn't do too badly missing one chance over the top. Barnsley's first goal came from Captain marvel Neil Redfearn, Bullock crossed the ball in low and slow. Redfearn controlled it ,turned, shot and the ball nestled into the bottom left hand corner of the net. Amazingly we looked on for the double over the scousers.

On a couple of occasions we looked as though we were going into good positions but the ref didn't let the game continue for half a second longer he just blew the whistle and stopped the momentum. We nearly went two up just before half time, Fjortoft took the ball in a one on one situation and chose to shoot when a tap to the right to the unmarked Marcelle would have been a better bet. Annoyingly though instead of following up the shot Marcelle turned to shot at Jan, in that time the keeper spilt the ball and i'm sure if Clint had continued to advance on the keeper he would have got to it first.

We quickly rued the missed chance as within two minutes Liverpool equalised in what at the time seemed offside like an offside position. Reidle somehow made his way onto the end of a pass that went through a crowd of players and lifted the ball into the net over a sprawling Watson. 1-1 at half time, a very entertaining game and I looked forward to the second half with great expectation. No-one had any idea of what was to come.

The madness of the second half began with the sending off of Darren Barnard fresh from his international duties(Perhaps he should have mentioned that to the ref and he might have got the same lenient treatment offered to many of the international visitors to Oakwell this season by the officials, oh no sorry he doesn't winge on all the time so it wouldn't make any difference.) Barnard tangled with Owen he seemed to spin around to chase a ball over the top and while he was doing that he caught Micheal Owen. The Liverpool striker went down in a heap and so the Ref judged him on route to goal so off Barnard went. Definitely harsh, more accident that intent in my book and it was his first offence. So no double yellow just red! Barnsley 10 Liverpool 11. Bullock off and Bosancic on with Sheridan filling in at left back. 5-3-1.

Reidle then got his second goal to put the scousers in-front. The man who just couldn't score against us in the first game at Anfield scored and absolute scorcher from 25 yards. He received the ball turned inside then let fly with a magnificent shot that beat Watson all ends up. A good goal deserving of winning any game, but it certainly didn't win this one.

Five or so minutes later we were down to 9 men. Morgan this time the recipient of the most card happy ref in the premiership's wrath. Owen the 5foot5 live wire England striker streaked down the left hand side after a looped ball over the top. Morgan making one of the few mistakes he's made all season didn't sense the danger early enough and didn't start running until it was nearly too late. He turned and as they were running in the direction of the corner flag challenged Owen high as seems to be acceptable these days as they both tried to gain the advantage in getting to the ball first. Owen then went to ground as the arm raised by Morgan to try to get in-front of Owen hit him in the face. The Liverpool man went down like a sack of spuds and the ref immediately reached for red again. He definitely wasn't in a goalscoring position but Willard gave no leniency and no second yellow just straight for the Red.

At this point I and the rest of the Barnsley fans saw red and just wanted to get onto the pitch and give the ref a piece of my mind.  I out Peter Reided Peter Reid and then I almost threw my lucky Cowboys baseball cap onto the pitch but realized that this would have been stupid and would have not reached in a million years(And I would have lost my cap for good). Unfortunately for us one idiot couldn't control himself and ran from the East Stand to the other side of the pitch in-front of the West Stand to get at the ref. What the hell was going through his mind? Luckily for us Jan Age Fjortoft did a better job than the men in yellow jackets and wrestled the fan to the floor with the help of the sent off Morgan. Barnsley 9 Liverpool 11. 4-2-2

What happened next is a mystery to the world as the ref walked off and up the tunnel without his two linesmen. Players stood around and fans started singing you'll never walk alone. The linesmen didn't know what to do. Wilson and Roy Evans the Liverpool manager went up to see the ref. Was the game to be abandoned? Had he been hurt? Was he scared of carrying on? (I would have been.) No-one knew? After about five minutes he reappeared and the game kicked off with a foul to Liverpool, and for the first few minutes the ref got some right abuse.

Liddell and Hristov came on for Fjortoft and Marcelle, immediately they combined well together and finally Hristov started making a couple of good runs and taking the ball past them. His goal for Macedonia in Midweek must have done him some good. Lets hope it continues because we need something to get us through the next couple of games without Ward. Hristov was the one brought down in the box for a penalty. At this point we were on fire the whole team pulled together and the nine men were running Liverpool ragged. Good moves led to Hristov chasing forward he and Harkness both handled the ball (Missed by the ref) then they went into the box. Hristov forced his way onto the ball, Babb came over to cover and quick as a flash Georgi fell with the grace of a dying swan. PENALTY! The ref saw it that way and so Redfearn stepped up and fooled the keeper by putting it in the bottom right hand corner for the first time in ages at a penalty. What we deserved? At least.

A million thoughts raced through my mind Could we pull off a miracle and come back for victory? 9 V 11. It certainly looked like we had the beating of them at this point. They were not up for it and we were. Sadly that wasn't to be the case Macmanamoan stepped into the breach and found his shooting boots. After the ball bounced around near the edge of the box it fell kindly to the wingeing scouser and the ball was lifted over Watson. 3-2 to Liverpool and all hell broke loose again. Macmanamoan walked toward the crowd and invited them onto the pitch. They obliged and about 30 or so Liverpool fans invaded the pitch and mobbed him. I didn't think that we were such a big scalp for the Ex Kings of Europe.

That wasn't the end of it by far. Before the game restarted Sheridan had been sent off. The ref consulted with the linesman for a minute or so then called over the little fella and gave him the red card. No-one was really sure what it was for, someone said a headbutt, someone a punch someone for dissent. No matter what, in added on time just a word in the ear would have seemed the right thing to do and just get off the pitch. Power mad but he had lost the power.

More idiots then ran onto the pitch so the game was held up for a few more minutes, about half a dozen in total. Paul Ince wrestled one bloke to the ground. The only one that I had some sympathy with was the lad which ran on from the ORA and sat down in the D on the edge of the eighteen yard box. He sat down for a few seconds then was escorted off the pitch. Still all that madness could cost us dear in the next few weeks as the F.A. could decide to make an example of us. Why? because they are B******s, and as Barnsley fan Andy said on Match of the Day "It's all about Spurs Everton and Newcastle not going down out of this league and everybody here knows it."

Barnsley 8 Liverpool 11, 3-2-2. The last five minutes was played out and the final whistle went. There was a couple of boos and then all the Barnsley fans stood up and applauded and cheered the players left on the pitch. They all did a fine job and tried there damnedest not to let the match slip away even when playing against 12. All we do now is wait for the ref's report and find out what he has to say and how long the ban will be on the players dismissed.

After the last few matches against some of the alleged best sides in England I have come to the conclusion that I don't give a stuff about the World Cup. The click that you need to get into the squad squanders some of the best talent (Sutton) and makes the ones that make it feel that they are above the law in the English game, and should be the much touted forth official. Beckham, Macmanaman, Shearer, Ince. It seems that it doesn't depend on merit just who you know and which nightclub you visit. Stuff the World Cup all I want is to stay up and piss off all those who would see us go down. "WE ARE PREMIER LEAGUE SAY WE ARE PREMIER LEAGUE!"

14th March 1998 : Barnsley 4(3) Southampton 3(2)

Watson / Eaden, Jones(Tinkler), Moses, Morgan, Barnard / Sheridan, Redfearn, Bullock / Ward(Liddell)(Hristov), Fjortoft

Before kickoff and throughout the opening exchanges which were much in the favour of Southampton I had a feeling something weird was going on. I couldn't quite put my finger on it but something was going to be different about today. When a shot was cleared off the line before we crossed the half way line I thought that it was all going to be against us and I should have worn my "lucky" walking boots.

Some semblance of normality was returned when Ashley Ward put us one up for the umpteenth time this season and once again I rued the decision not to put a quid on Ward first scorer and a 1-0 scoreline. He took the ball from Bullock near the inside edge of the box, turned brilliantly to make himself some space and hit it hard and low to the keepers left with his left foot. That wasn't the end of the scoring though, by no means.

Southampton levelled not long after, David Hirst lofted the ball into the penalty area with an outrageous backheel kick. It bounced around off a few heads before Ostenstadt managed to control it and beat Watson at his left side. The pressure was back on us and at the moment there is only one player to call on when were under pressure. Scott Jones cruised in as he did against Man Utd at a corner behind the rest of the Barnsley players and plonked his head on the cross and stuck it home.

The game then took a turn for the worse again for us. Scott Jones went off for treatment with some head injury and Ashley Ward pulled up with a leg strain, it then took ages to get the ball out of play for the Ward substitution. So for a time we were down to nine men. While we were still waiting for the return of Jones LeTissier popped up and nodded home to equalize.

Whatever would happen next? We've never got more than 2 this season in the league. Fjortoft took the initiative and took the ball from a cross from Bullock, pulled in-front of his marker and hit the ball into the roof of the net. Aeroplanes' away and we fly to 3-2 in-front. Bloomin eck and it's still not half time!

From what seemed like the start of the second half Fjortoft seemed dead on his feet. Everytime he should have been making a run he seemed a yard slow. Not that i'm saying he wasn't trying but he just ran himself ragged. He took the ball and made a run toward the byline for a cross/shot. All the while the defender tugged on his shirt. Then Gerald "Penalty" Ashby took charge of the situation and gave a penalty to us in a situation that actually ment something. 2-1 against now man. Shame this was your last game so you can't even the score. A ropey decision but there was definitely some tugging. Redfearn put the ball on the spot and hit it in his favourite spot for us to take a two goal lead.

Surely this two goal lead wouldn't last as it would be too easy on the fans with bad hearts. Sure enough it wasn't. A free kick was given away on the edge of the penalty area, Watson lined up the wall and waited for the strike. Beresford tapped it to LeTissier who struck and got his second. Curled well around the wall and into the corner pocket. Good goal. But bloody hell we've got to win by more as i'm absolutely knackerd by the end of the game.

We managed to hangon to the lead for the duration without too many scares but other results didn't really go our way so despite our third win in the league on the bounce for the first time this season were still in the bottom three. Now though were level on points with Spurs and clawing back the others above. We still need at least another point to get out of the bottom three, so bring on the Pool.

11th March 1998 : Aston Villa 0(0) Barnsley 1(1)

Watson / Eaden, Jones, Moses, Morgan, Barnard(Tinkler) / Sheridan, Redfearn, Bullock / Ward, Fjortoft(Liddell)

Thanks to a friend I managed to wangle a free ticket. (If you ever read this, Thanks M!) Only problem was that I was sat amongst the Villa fans in the section above our travelling fans. They were that loud at one point I thought some had made their way upstairs. Come the end of the match I would have gladly paid £20 to cheer at anything never mind a goal. I just about exploded.

All the difficulty that I had was caused by one superstar Ashley Ward. On 17 minutes after a couple of good passes in buildup he took the ball around one defender and blasted it past Bosnich. He got a hand to it but the net bulged and that is all that matters. Oh how I wanted to sing and cheer with the rest. I managed to disguise my delight by burying my head in my hands and then smiling as much as I could. When I arose they had already kicked off again.

It can not be said how much last ditch defending we did. It seemed to be for at least 70 of the 90 minutes. Thank god we wern't on sky otherwise we might have set a record for time in our own third of the field. That said when we went forward it looked like we might just do something with it, unlike the opposition.

The tone for the game was set early on with both Dwight Yorke and Julian Joachim missing opportunities to score. Alan Wright on the left side of defence for Villa had an absolute nightmare all game and I even joined in the barracking of him to try and release some tension he was that bad. It seemed as if every time he went anywhere near the ball he thought someone had a rifle pointed at him so he had to get rid. I can't remember one good pass he made.

The second half was worse than the first as far as I was concerned. At every chance that went begging I wanted to jump up and go aaaahhhh, but couldn't. And my god there were plenty of chances. Header's over and wide from practically the whole of the Villa squad, chief culprit Ian Taylor who headed over and wide countless times. The one time that he got the ball on target he found Watson on the top of his game. Another terrific save. The closest they came to scoring was when the ball hit the post from a long cross / shot.

Watson had a completely mistake free game. Crosses were caught and runs off his line were in plenty of time. A great all around performance. The rest of the defence did a great job too. Scott Jones did a good job again and seemed to remain calm throughout. Bringing the ball down and finding an outlet or as with all the rest just getting rid by kicking it as far as possible. Once or twice though that resulted in the ball going farther into the sky than up the pitch. The most remarkable thing about the whole game though came from the fact that there were no bookings at all in the game. Surely a first for this season. Well done lads.

On the way home on Radio 5 a Villa fan got on and started moaning about the fact that we didn't try to go at them and score couple more goals. Sorry for scoring and playing hard and fair in defence. Well young man I think that your blokes better improve for next week otherwise your out of the UEFA Cup. That competition is a little way off for us at the moment but were moving in the right direction.

Sunday 8th March 1998 : F.A. Cup 6th Round : Newcastle United 3(2) Barnsley 1(0)

Watson / Eaden, Moses(Sent Off), DeZeeuw(Hristov), Morgan, Barnard / Sheridan, Redfearn, Marcelle(Bullock), Liddell, Ward.

The hardest report i've had to write this year. Like the rest of you I had been dreaming of a midweek tie against Barcelona come September and now it's gone. All the good omens. Titanic, Bolton, Beating Man United, did we have our name on the cup as it's turned out, no we didn't. No matter how hard we tried.

The opening quarter of an hour was pretty even and we had two glorious opportunities. Ward struck a shot when a pull back to Liddell or Marcelle would have been better. Then Eaden struck a terrific 50 yard ball into the path of Liddell and the young land just couldn't stick out his foot and reach it. Any kind of touch with weight on it and we could have been in the lead.

The seating arrangements for the game were a real disappointment. Once again I splashed the cash for the most expensive tickets expecting a good view of the game and found myself at pitch level with no idea what was going on at the far side of the pitch. Some Barnsley fans could see that side though. No we didn't have half of the ground, and we didn't have great numbers of tickets from touts. Newcastle in there ultimate wisdom played the divide and conquer card. The 5,000 travelling fans split into 3 groups. So instead of a sparkling atmosphere for all the Barnsley fans only those in the exhibition east made a great noise. We joined in and the other opposite corner did well when we could but it certainly wasn't as good as at Manchester.

Newcastle scored two goals in the next ten minutes, witch at the time seemed to seal the game. Ketsbiai started off and finished a good passing move which may have been offside. 1-0 to the Geordies. Not long after Speed got the second. He managed to pounce on the loose ball and Slot it home. Watson could really have done with closing down the Anderson attack and taking the ball which had run loose, but he seemed to be trapped between the stay on your line or take a rush out of goal. A blocked first shot but Speed was the next to the rebound.

At half time I couldn't see us pulling anything out of the bag, and feared for another drubbing. But I should not have doubted the commitment of the lads. They were brilliant and ran themselves into the ground for the rest of the match. With a different official the result  could certainly have been more in our favour.

Bullock came on for Marcelle after the first five minutes of the second half and pulled the game around to a certain extent making a few good runs. The clincher though in terms of creating the chance came with the removal of DeZeeuw who limped off the pitch and bringing on of Hristov. Liddell then moved into a more withdrawn role behind the front two. Within minutes Bullock had made a good run and passed the ball along the inside edge of the eighteen yard area. Liddell was on hand to guide the ball with his right foot into the corner of the net. 2-1 and we were back in this one.

Ashley Ward who once again ran for the full ninety minutes holding off men here and there and laying the ball off. Thanks to more good work from Bullock was setup with only the keeper to beat. Instead of lifting the ball over the diving Given in goal he went for a low powerful shot which the keeper dealt with. Perhaps as good a chance as we were going to get all afternoon.

At the other end of  the pitch we were picking up bookings left right and centre all curtosy of one man. The England number nine Alan Shearer. He is a very strong player and held off the Barnsley defenders well, sometimes too well with use of all parts off his body and arms. Moses, Morgan, Barnard and Redfearn all picked up bookings. The only player who went anywhere near him and didn't get booked was David Watson in goal. He was too busy performing heroics to keep him at bay. His best save from a Shearer header, he seemed to dive the whole length of the goal to claw the ball out. One of the best saves I have ever seen him make. Another he charged down a goal bound shot in a one on one situation.

Moses unfortunatly was the one to get booked twice, the first a debatable booking from a tap from behind and the second a right old mixup and both players ended in a heap on the floor. Both definitely fouls, but every foul a booking? I think not. This took the wind out of our sails and Newcastle had more time on the ball to come at us. We moved to 3 at the back and tried to keep all our attacking options. The defence did suffer. The loss of DeZeeuw earlier now came back to haunt us.

Batty scored with no time left on the clock but that didn't really matter, the game was over and to quote an oft used phrase. The TykeTanic was sunk.

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