Back to Oakwell, where our home form hasn't been good to start the season, having beaten the two sides you'd expect us to beat, and lost to the 4 who are the better sides in the division. You'd say Shrewsbury fall into the Port Vale and Burton category, and currently sit a place below the Valiants in 15th place. This is reflected in the betting, with the bookies making us 7/11 favourites, and the visitors as 9/2 outsiders. On their travels, Shrewsbury have gained just 4 points so far this season, through a narrow win at struggling Fleetwood, and a draw this weekend at Cambridge. Elsewhere on their travels, they've been comfortably beaten to nil, albeit 2 of those were at current top 6 sides. Their win at Fleetwood, who finished the game with 9 men, is their only away league victory in their last 15 matches, going back as far as early February. Within that 15 game run for Shrewsbury is their last visit to Oakwell in April. Nicky Cadden and Devante Cole were on target in a game which saw both Cadden and former Shrews striker Ryan Bowman sent off. That was Barnsley's 8th victory in our last 9 home meetings with the Shrews, dating back to 1982. In fact, in 22 meetings at Oakwell, the Tykes have won 16, drawn 4 and lost just twice to Shrewsbury, suggesting the Shropshire side don't find Oakwell a particularly easy place to visit. Referee Simon Mather has had a busy season so far. I'm just 9 games, he's managed to dish out 49 yellow cards and 7 reds! Yes, 7 red cards in 9 games. In fact, all 7 red cards were dished out in just 3 games, culminating in 3 red cards in Oxford's recent victory over Bristol Rovers. He's issued more red cards this season than he did in the entirety of last season. His two reds appointments last season were our goalless draw at Lincoln in April, and the defeat away at Morecambe, where the hosts scored from a foul throw. He took charge of Shrewsbury's 2-2 draw at Pride Park last season, as well as their FA Cup 1st round win over Peterborough. I do recall us having a ref a few weeks ago who had only issued about 7 red cards in 7 seasons (maybe the ref vs Cambridge), whereas Mr Mather averages that most seasons. I fancy us to begin to make amends at home with 3 straight wins in league and cup, starting with Shrewsbury tomorrow evening. The Shrews aren't good travellers, and have a poor record at Oakwell (despite their win here in our 2015/16 promotion season). Therefore I'm going for 3-0 with Cole getting a brace, and De Gevigney on the scoresheet.
Cole must start scoring again so this could be a good opportunity to get a goal or two. 3-0 or 3-1 win to the Reds.
I’m surprised at that…….you might be best off watching champions league football tomorrow with your pyjamas on flower
0-0. We haven't had a penalty in ages, no ref is going to give us one in the last minute. More tippy tappy, across the back, ponderous football from calamity Collins. The more time he gets to implement his ways on the team, the worse we get.
It's even worse when you consider the split between L1 and other games he's done. All 7 reds and 29 of the bookings have come in the just 4 L1 games he's had!