Almost a perfect day - six goals only happens once in a blue moon

I could check back in the records but there haven't been too many instances of us scoring six goals although I think I have been there just about every time in living memory. I missed the seven against Huddersfield and I didn't go to Workington to see us beat them 7-1 but I have seen:

6-2 Shrewsbury - Eddie Loyden hat trick I think?
6-2 Port Vale - Boxing Day magic when Allan Clarke was still scoring for us (hat trick again I think?)
6-0 Portsmouth - the week after we conceded six at Ipswich

Can't think of any others off the top of my head during my 50 odd years following Barnsley. It was therefore a thrill to see them get that magic number yesterday. Five nils are all well and good but it was the last day of the season and Keith told his lads to put their feet up....didn't he? Wonder what he told them at half time yesterday? Whatever it was it worked a treat - good man!

As far as perfect day stuff goes, I took a load of Barnsley related books to that stall upstairs in the market and he was thrilled to get them and gave me £40. I'm annoyed now about how many perfect condition hard back books I have given away to charity in recent years. Should have sold them. Then, at the betting shop under the ESL I put a whacking £3 on us to win, pocketing £6.90 at full time. Then came the lottery and I got two numbers, so a free go. Phew....what a day! But on to the match.

Zero criticism for anyone today, not that I ever rip into players. If anything, Josh Brownhill had a fairly quiet game but it would be fair to say that he did an able, steady job in the middle without doing anything spectacular. He's maybe one of those players who doesn't get noticed a lot but you would miss him if he wasn't there. He had a fairly shaky start, with a couple of misplaced passes, but he settled and later, when going off, he got a standing ovation from the whole ground.

Speaking of which, what a reaction to Scowen coming back! He got a tremendous round of applause just for walking on the pitch. Let's hope he gets back to where he was. Probably on the bench again Tuesday as I can't see LJ dropping Brownhill, and that's the only viable spot for him really. I'm assuming no injuries though but looking at the way Hammill hobbled off at the end, he must be a doubt. Would be a shame to change the shape and system though. It's looking great at the moment.

Defensively, as many others have said, you can't fault them. All four were superb in their own ways, George Williams in particular standing out for me. He won everything except for one tiny thing - their goal bounced in front of him and went in over his head. Had he been a few inches taller he might have got there. Or he could have put his hand up and stopped it Kevin Long is getting better each game and Alfie had a steady, relatively scare-free match. Both scored superb headers as well, so that was a bonus. James Bree is also coming along nicely and you can't imagine him losing that right back slot now.

In midfield we had the wing wizards running at Rochdale all day, with varying success. Isgrove had one tremendous run in the second half and generally put himself about a bit. Hammill had one of his quieter days. He hardly ever beat four men yesterday - rubbish! Only setting up two goals as well - shocking! That tackle at the end looked a bad one and it was such a shame with the game won. I really hope he isn't badly hurt because we will miss him. Yet again he almost single-handedly got the crowd going with his tricks and flicks at the Ponty End. What a player! The skipper had a tidy game as well but I was hoping to see him on the score sheet yesterday. Let's hope a big money bid doesn't come in next week for him.

On that subject, it would be amazing if no one asked about SSW. A couple of million might tempt us to sell but, for me, that would be stupid. Like Adam Hammill, he is a crowd pleaser extraordinaire. Who couldn't love a centre forward who scores EIGHT in only four games, with a classic hat trick yesterday? Great asset for BFC. Money should not be able to buy him but, as we all know, it probably will. Not yet though, please. Marley Watkins should be attracting attention as well to be fair. Non-stop running, always involved and a nice goal to top that off. But what a fantastic reverse pass from Winnall to set that up! It was sublime and Marley finished it well.

The three subs all made an impact in their own way. As mentioned above, it was just a delight to see Scowen back on the pitch. Ashley Fletcher came on for another superb cameo and was a danger to their defence every time he went near the ball. And finally, the almost forgotten man - Marc Roberts. Can there have ever been such a buzz in the crowd when we had a couple of late throw ins? Actually I don't recall him doing anything in defence at all but his exocet throws were great to see. One of these days we might actually score from one.

Nice touch at the end from George Williams - he jogged over to the wall on the ESL side and kissed a man and a woman on the cheek. His mum and dad presumably? Great to see that and what a thrill for them to see their lad play so well.

All in all, almost a perfect day. Six NIL would have been a perfect day but 6-1 will do nicely. It's great watching Barnsley again and I defy anybody to deny that.

 

I honestly enjoy reading your match reports. Cheers for posting.

 

Was a fantastic performance from the whole team. One complaint would be why didn't Hammill pass it to CH before he lost the ball!

 

Thanks. Writing them is so easy after a day like yesterday.

 

You could say that almost every game though. You are screaming for him to release it but he usually wants to beat just one more! Not criticising him for it but if he could mix that up a bit more he would still be Premier League class.

Still the best thing to happen to us this season.

 

I sincerely hope that he keeps doing that then so that we don't lose him.

Great match report, by the way. Thanks!

 

The Rochdale forum view is pretty funny. They think we were pretty average. Good job we didn't hit top form. However this from a forum community that thought Toby Tyke was trying to let our kid score and only save against their kid, despite us hitting the post twice. All in all this is a great review. We could have had more had Conor not scuffed his shot when pulled back by Sam and the 1st half move from Bree, Isgrove and Hamill to set up Sam where he just couldn't get a solid touch and the low cross. Brownhill impressed me. He didn't do anything fancy, just broke play up and moved the ball quickly and simply. He was like a metronome, keeping the team in Tempo and sync.

 

So what you're saying is you thought you were dumping worthless rubbish on the charity shop?.......

 

Absoutely not - I never take anything to a charity shop that I don't think can be resold. I was only thinking that when I have paid upwards of £20 each for good quality books, stored them on my bookshelves for years and now have disposed of them that I could have made a fair bit back. There are plenty of second hand book dealers that would have taken them off me.

I'm only shedding my library by the way because of yet another house move (next week hopefully) and I am fed up with lugging them around. I tend to read books on my Kindle/iPhone these days.

 

Only joking Prince!!

 

Oke

 

I must say I can't remember that Shrewsbury game at all.

 

Oh I do and I was only reading the report on the match a couple of days ago. Spooky!

The headline was "Six goal jolt for absent fans" - there were less than 3,000 there. All my scrap books and programmes went into store yesterday pending a move shortly. Amazing how much stuff I have accumulated!

 

you have pm

 

Thanks for the report I always enjoy your reports even if I don't always share your optimistic view of life. Great game. Decent atmosphere. Other than Hamill's injury a perfect day.

 

6-0 v Peterborough in the famous League Cup run when we went on to beat Brighton and Man City and draw at Liverpool. That's the only other 6 I remember.

We actually beat Portsmouth 6-0 before we lost at Ipswich. Beat them 6-0 on the Saturday, lost at Ipswich 6-1 two days later on August bank holiday Monday.

 

He ain't worth a couple of million needs to improve a lot to be worth that.

 

Would it be possible to supply some info on the game please, old mate?

 

If you had asked me yesterday I would have said definitely yes. Unfortunately all my archive material is now in a secure locker at StoreFirst, Hoyland. We are moving to a smaller property (in Harrogate) some time very soon and I couldn't justify taking it all there. It would have been awful to just dump it all in a skip so I am storing it temporarily there until it finds a permanent home. Scrapbooks from 1962 up to early part of this millennium. Programme collection the same vintage.

I keep telling myself I will read it all again sometime but it would probably take years to wade through it all. I even offered it all to the Barnsley museum but they said no thanks.

 

Ah, ok I stand corrected on the order of the games!

I never saw the Peterborough match. The only one I got to on that great run was Man City. I was living near Salisbury at the time and a 400 mile round trip for a midweek league cup game never appealed all that much. But I made the effort for City. WHAT A NIGHT that was! Sensational stuff.