It was a proper derby game, like I remember from being a kid, the kind you seldom get these days. Everyone has tried to take the emotion out of football, from managers and players claiming they're treating the game against local rivals just like any other, to fans pretending they don't care how well the other local teams perform and the results against these clubs don't matter any more than the result against a team from a town 200 miles away. It's cool not to give a **** and as a result derby games are often flat with little atmosphere. ******** to all that. There's nothing wrong with acknowledging our game against Sheffield United is a big one, there's nothing wrong with admitting we desperately want to beat the *******. I take immense pride in the fact that our small town club regularly competes at the same level as our big city neighbours. I ******* love it when we beat them. I want such games to be built up in to something, I want players and managers to tell us they're desperate to beat our local rivals, I want it to matter. Life we would be pretty boring if you can't get excited and nervous about something, if you've got nothing to look forward to. And don't ever believe the nonsense that the fans of these big city teams come out with, that we mean nothing to them. No one likes the poor kid from down the road coming in to their patch and giving them a proper beating; it stings like hell. Both teams yesterday played like it really mattered, so at times it was frantic, there were plenty of mistakes, it wasn't a game for the football purest, but it was full of passion and commitment and as a result it was a good watch, it was entertaining. It was one of the better 0-0s I've seen and more enjoyable as a game of football than any number of matches that have produced goals. The tip on to the post by Davies was an excellent save. That shot was really travelling. Mawson and Roberts were both superb, as they have been for weeks now. It's the best central defensive partnership we've had for a long time. Ably backed up by Williams and Scowen, who perhaps didn't have their best games going forward, but they both put in tackle after tackle. Full backs who get the defensive side of their game right are all too rare these days as the fashion is to have them marauding down the line, which often results in them going missing when the opposition is on the attack. Williams and Scowen were in position to make the challenges time and again, and more often than not came out on top. Hammill still doesn't look fully fit to me. He's lost a yard of pace compared to how he was at the turn of the year. Having said that, he set up our best chance and Fletcher really should have got his header on target. He did score what looked like a perfectly legitimate goal though. I've heard it argued that Winnall pulled down their defender, but that looks soft at best. If you look at the ref he actually signals for offside, but the linesman didn't put up his flag. Since the 3-2 defeat at Peterborough in Novemeber we've played 15 games away from Oakwell and lost just one of them. In 8 of those games we've kept a clean sheet. In the last 7 away league games we've conceded just 2 goals. That's a hell of a run of form for any team, but for us, who for years have travelled so badly, it's almost unbelievable.
Excellent post pal..... Good seeing you yesterday but we need top stop meetiting in or just outside men's toilets :-D
Cheers for that like you I don't understand this model ******** about all games being equal of course matches against Weeds, or Washday or the Blunts, or the Millers or even Donkey Rovers matter more to the fans and should matter more to the players. Maybe Hecky being a local lad in charge of 'his' team might mean he can instil this into the team.
It's still only three points for a win. Obviously beating the Blunts you get more satisfaction than other clubs as it's a local derby. But you don't get more points for doing so.
It's not about the points though is it any fan can tell you that. Any player who has played in a big derby game will tell you that. Most games are meaningless in terms of win or lose or draw in the bigger context of things.
Spot on Jay! I am shortly to reach the ripe old age of eighty and at every match I attend, still leap to my feet to smash in any cross or hail every goal we score. A passion forged in the days we youngsters sat aside our Dads shrouded in the swirling fog of Woodbines on the top deck of the Yorkshire Traction as we travelled to Oakwell. And stood on the Spion Cop to watch Johnny Kelly, Cec McCormack, Eddie McMorran, Danny Blanchflower, Tommy Taylor, 'Lol' Chapple, Mick McCarthy etc etc. And that's why it's a joy to hear our crowd roar. Especially the youngsters for it's a sure sign the brotherhood is alive and well. Best wishes to the team and to all its supporters.
Yes excellent post. I think local derby matter more to the fans these days than the player. Years ago when a lot of the players stayed at their home town club it meant something to them to beat the team they grew up hating. But now players move round with such an alarming frequency that if you keep someone for three years your are almost giving him a testimonial for loyal service. The influx of foreign players wont have helped this either as they have no concept of why this game matters more than any other. I remember Ruud van Gullit as manager of Newcastle saying beating Sunderland was just another 3 points and didn't matter any more than beating any other team. Caused some controversy at the time but he was just saying what a lot of the playing staff felt. I forecast a draw before the match but disappointed not to win yesterday. Our defence was outstanding. Forwards not as good, but good game which became very open at the end as both teams went for it.
I agree with pretty much all of that. Felt a draw was a pretty fair result. Our back 4 were superb & the longer the game went on the more I thought these won't score today. Roberts & Mawson gave me so much confidence yesterday, Mawson's cut out the silly mistakes & Roberts is improving so much on the ball. Obviously we can feel aggrieved if Fletcher's goal should've stood but I've not seen a replay yet. I was saying yesterday morning that 5 points will be enough because Gillingham won't win another game & I think we'll get that with a win against Colchester & a point against Wigan. We were poor going forwards yesterday but I think 4 of our front 6 are absolutely knackered (Winnall, Hammill, Brownhill & Hourihane). I would've looked at taking off either Hammill or Winnall for Chapman & Toney a bit earlier but Hammill has that moment of brilliance in him & Winnall's the most likely to bag a goal so I can see why Heckingbottom left them on. I think the tiredness when we broke several times late on, the quality wasn't what it was a couple of months back. I'm just hoping not having a Tuesday game before the end of the season will mean the lads are a lot fresher for the last 2 games
Agreed, we seem to have gone stale/tired attack wise. It would be really, REALLY nice if we could sew it all up next week so we could rest a few for the Wigan game and also give Tuton a start and see how he does. But this is Barnsley so there's pretty much no chance of things going that easy! lol
Yup, agree with all that. Football, for me anyway, is all about the joy & passion it can generate, alongside the utter despair, at times. I don't understand why any fan would seek to avoid embracing that, preferring to reduce it to a cold, unfeeling, passionless, analytical algorithm from a coaching manual.
