Report from Huddersfield message board

Town 1 Barnsley 3

On a night with a wonderful atmosphere that was generated by both sets of fans the outcome of this playoff match was unknown for a long time. That was until Barnsley found some chinks in Town's armour, like so many teams before, and made them pay dearly. 100% effort only gets you so far, skill and vision take you the rest of the way.

MATCH STATS

Town: Rachubka, Adams, McIntosh, Clarke N, Holdsworth, Schofield, Hudson(Brandon), Worthington, Booth, Taylor-Fletcher, Graham(Abbott)
Subs: Senior, Mirfin, Ahmed
Barnsley: Colgan, Kay, Reid, Heckingbottom, Hassell, Devaney, Howard, McPhail, Hayes, Richards(Wright), Nardiello(Shuker)
Subs: Flinders, McParland, Tonge

Red cards: None

Yellow cards: Clarke N, Nardiello

Attendance: 19,223

There were no changes at all in the team and substitutes for this deciding match of the playoff semis. The rain was pouring down as it had all day to add that little bit of moisture to the pitch that the many sprinklers had missed. The tension was racked up another notch as the match was delayed by 15 minutes so the two sets of fans practiced their favourite ditties towards each other.

Eventually the teams came out to a tremendous roar from all parts of the stadium. Despite Town having the one goal advantage from the first leg it was the home side that looked positive. Town were looking assured on the ball and as early as the 6th minute Booth had a shot volleyed just over the bar.

But Barnsley were looking good as they broke quickly from defence into attack and it needed a scrambled clearance to get the ball away from Town's goal. On 9 minutes Schofield, who was looking bright, had a strong shot turned round the post by Colgan. At the quarter hour mark Town were looking sharp and on top of their game.

Town were getting the half chances but not converting them. However you couldn't write off a lively Barnsley side whose attack was mainly nullified by the Town defenders. But once or twice they broke through and it needed last ditch defending to keep the sheet clean. Half time arrived and it had been a tight first half but Town were still in the overall lead due to their single goal in the first leg.

Second Half
It seemed that Jackson must have delivered his usual half time talk because immediately Town were on the back foot as Barnsley attacked. On 46 minutes Nardiello dribbled his way goalwards and Holdsworth had to get in a saving tackle to halt his progress. On 50 minutes Graham had a speculative shot but it failed to trouble the Reds keeper.

The tie was put on a knife edge in the 57th minute as a bit of leaning by McIntosh was exaggerated by the Barnsley frontman and the referee pointed to the penalty spot straight away. Hayes stepped up and gave Rachubka no chance with his driven shot into the corner of the goal. The teams were now level on aggregate but the away side had the mental advantage.

But the Town fans were not to let their team get their heads down and the vocal support rose in volume. In the 65th minute a poor back pass to the keeper was chased down by Worthington. the clearance hit the Town midfielder and rolled slowly over the Barnsley goal line with thousands of Town fans willing it in. The roof was nearly lifted off the stadium as Town once more took the lead in the tie with only 25 minutes left to play.

Rather than putting Barnsley heads down the goal seemed to act like a catalyst to the players in red. Six minutes later some slack defending allowed the visitors another goal. A corner led to an unmarked Reid heading into the net from close in. With the final whistle getting near many were thinking of extra time. But Barnsley were still going strong as the Town players seem to be slowing up. The main tactic of the long ball to Booth's head was becoming less effective as the frontman tired and couldn't get high enough.

Barnsley's slick passing was causing all kinds of problems for Town as they tried to stem the flow. On 78 minutes the dagger was thrust into Town's heart. A long range shot was fumbled by Rachubka and the ball was picked up by the alert Nardiello who slotted the ball home to wild delight from the massed Reds fans behind the goal.

Jackson knew that Town needed to score so he took off Graham and put on Abbott straight away. Clarke was booked after blocking Devaney and Brandon came on to replace Hudson. Both substitutes added nothing to Town's play as the away side looked to waste time at every opportunity. Right at the death the game could have been taken into extra time. The ball fell loose to Taylor-Fletcher in front of goal but a wild swing sent the ball wide and Town's season ended at last.

 

Decent report

Apart from " a bit of leaning by McIntosh" - more like a blatant push in the back!

 

RE: Decent report

very honest report, although it was a blatent push.