Jim O'Brien must have run two marathons, while Chris O'Grady must feel like he's gone 15 rounds in the ring the way he battled. Sheffield Wednesday must have some strikers if they can afford to loan him out. That or a crap manager. Etuhu was a colossus in midfield. You'll read match reports that talk about Watford pressure and they did have a lot of the ball in the second half, but Luke Steele had only one save to make all game such was the way we defended. Their 'keeper, on the other hand, made a string of brilliant saves, one of which from Dagnall was inexplicably given as a goal kick. Which brings us to the referee. Shocking. I very rarely comment on a referees performance, but some of those decisions, particularly the bookings we received were atrocious. Didn't spoil the match though, the reds were magnificent. Well done to all concerned.
They had that chance in the first half early on and then a shot from the edge of the area that Steele got down well to save, but other than that they didn't look like scoring at all. All the back four were immense today and Perkins and Etuhu were forever snapping at the heels of their midfield. Vydra didn't get a look in all day. O'Brien went up front for the last 10 minutes, just because he can do the work of two forwards, running from one side of the pitch to the other closing them down. Although he lacked quality at times today he never stopped running and put himself about. Yaya Toure and Messi in the middle. Perkins made their left back look silly at one point in the second half but I think the number of games he's played caught up with him towards the end. We should really have scored a couple more on the counter, Daggers was unlucky, it was only a great save that denied him, after more good work from O'Grady who just carried on where he left off against Brighton.
We were fantastic today, absolutely unbelievable, even if we do go down from here, which I don't think we will, we can have no complaints about this Herculean effort. What I will say about O'Grady is that for all his hard work he doesn't quite seem to have that clinical instinct in front of goal, but of course we said that about Dagnall.
Agreed, the whole team showed an awesome work ethic, epitomised by Jimbo who I'm sure was out on his feet at the end but still running around as if he'd swallowed a six-pack of Duracell. One of the best games and performances I've seen for years, we should have won by more, they hardly had a shot. Oh and my wife has locked herself in the bathroom.
Aye Battling Barnsley gave everything today, awesome effort from all, think I need a rub darn from just watching that. The balls are back in Tarn.
Zola Via BBC (WORK RATE); "I'm disappointed for the result, I'm disappointed for the performance and that's it. "But it ends there because sometimes you have to admit, when the opposition fights and plays the way they played, sometimes the better quality doesn't prevail - especially in the Championship when you have teams fighting for their lives, like Barnsley, and they make it difficult for you to play and you cannot overcome that. "I think my players will learn a lot from today. For many of them, they didn't even know a game like this. "It is the first time we have faced a team that has played and pressed us so much throughout the game. And as I said, many of them with learn. In my team I have a lot of young players and games like this will teach them a lot."
Every one of our players put in a shift and a half today and thoroughly deserved their win against an impressive Watford side. Incidentally did Wiseman get his booking for getting kicked?
I think that is very respectful of 'Franco, but we certainly played as much football as Watford, if not more. They hardly got out of their half for the first 45 and we should have been further ahead. It's one thing stopping the opposition playing, it's something else going out and winning the match.
While Zola is magnanimous in defeat and always comes across as a decent bloke, I'd argue that we showed every bit as much quality as Watford. Yes, we worked extremely hard and pressed them all over the pitch, but we also created the better chances through very good football.
Thats correct Jay, but we are just northen oiks from lil old Barnsley and it's against the law to admit we can play a bit.
