report from the star copyright acknowledged

Bitter sweet for Reds as beer on the floor tells the jubilant truth
THE post-match dressing rooms told the story of the day.
Barnsley's was all empty cans, ticker tape and a floor covered in celebratory Brains Bitter.

Swansea's was just empty.
An hour after the game that had everything, you could still feel the relief, still hear the ringing in your ears.
It was Barnsley's day. They weren't overrun and they never stopped working but they weren't the best team.
Until it really mattered.
Then they stepped up and won the penalty shoot-out, one of the hardest jobs in football, one that bigger, better players have made a mess of on so many occasions.
It's such a gut-wrenching, heart-breaking way to win or lose.
Barnsley had been dead on their feet for the last ten minutes of extra time as Swansea came in for the kill. The Reds' backs-to-the-wall defending was the only thing holding them up.
Then Lee Trundle misses a late Swansea chance and it's penalties at their end.
Swansea, Lee Trundle: Assured and powerful - 1-0
Barnsley, Paul Hayes: The cocky so-and-so strolls up and rolls it over the line - 1-1
Swansea, Leon Britton: NOT the former Tory minister - 2-1
Barnsley, Chris Shuker: Looks like a boy, shoots like a man - 2-2
Swansea, Adebayo Akinfenwa: The cocky so-and-so strolls up, shuffles, stops and puts it over the bar - 2-2.
Barnsley, Paul Heckingbottom: Bang - 3-2
Swansea, Owain Tudur Jones: Double-barrelled blast - 3-3
Barnsley, Anthony Kay: Oakwell boy makes good - 4-3
Swansea, Alan Tate: Nick 'Ooops' Colgan saves. The Reds are up.
Bloody hell.
An explosion of joy, triumph and relief from Barnsley fans. The silence of the Swans at the other end.
You can't help feeling sorry for them. Actually, you can if you try.
Before the game, Swansea had been the main fans' force in the city centre. Barnsley fans were at the north of the ground and filled the pubs at that end.
Reds were bouncing off the mirrored walls in Yates's, queueing in the rain to get into the City Arms, a model red army in the Model Inn.
Two policemen walk up the steps into a Yates's heaving with Barnsley fans bellowing out their songs. The pair just look at each other as they prepare to go in to see that all is well.
"How are we going to do it?" says one.
The other shrugs and they open the door into a cacophony of boozy, booming Reds. The two officers stand there, look at each other again and make as dignified an exit as possible.
There's a huge cheer. Plastic pints are thrust into the air spilling their Brains on to the floor as they roar out Andy Ritchie's name for the 300th time.
Inside the ground there are banners and flags from O'Dwyers, Arnside and Wombwell. Red wigs, 20,000 red shirts and those bloody airhorns.
The lid was on the stadium and the noise was truly deafening, shivers up your back, ear-achingly deafening.
Early in the game Neon Light is a beacon for Swansea and former Barnsley trainee Rory Fallon looks brilliant.
Flicks from Fallon, two in the opening two minutes, show a way through.
19 mins: Nardiello to Richards, wide to Devaney, wicked cross deflected by Austin to Hayes who volleys his eight-yard shot past Gueret. Barnsley bedlam.
26 mins: A let-off as Reid misses his clearance from Fallon's flick, Neon Light is through but hits the post.
28 mins: It had to happen. The outstanding player of the first half hour, Fallon turns into Van Basten and overhead kicks the equaliser.
41 mins: Disaster. Robinson tries one from 20 yards straight at fans' player of the year Colgan who kneels down and palms the ball inexplicably into the net.
Eleven swans are swimming as the tide begins to turn against the Reds.
45 mins: Crucial, match-turning save. Colgan miraculously blocks with his feet then grabs the ball on the line as Neon Light arrives to smash it in.
62 mins: Salvation. Howard flattened on the edge of the box. Nardiello curls his right-footed free-kick Ronaldo-style into the bottom corner. 2-2 and the Reds are rocking again.
85 mins: Devaney's teasing cross finds Paul Reid's fantastic run at the far-post but the skipper's downward header bounces over. Was that the one?
91 mins: Tate slices wide.
95 mins: Akinfenwa shoots wide. Trundle and Akinfenwe must be 35 stone between them.
110 mins: Trundle bundles through but the golden one puts his shot wide.
Then it's penalties, hysteria, laps of honour and Hi Ho Super Barnsley.
The Reds are up, and for a while at least, nothing else matters.
29 May 2006
« Previous PageNext »Page 1 of 1

 

appalling journalism

fallon turns into van basten with an overhead kick???????
Nardi's Ronaldo style freekick????????????????????????????

most people in the pubs drunk lager, not brains bitter

 

RE: appalling journalism

<p align="left">Not where I was Brains SA what a beer !!</p><p align="left">Who wants fizzy lager pop when you can have a quality beer like Brains SA?</p>

 

RE: appalling journalism

lager all the way but i suppose its an age thing. under 30s lager, oaps bitterff

(raiseaglass)

 

RE: appalling journalism

 You cheeky Get you ! Lol

 

Too true ,

I am loath drink a pint of witch piss , it has to be a pint of bitter or Guiness. I will drink Stella though as a very last resort.<hr /><hr />

 

RE: Too true ,

Lol</p>

Did you have a good day on saturday?</p>

Ask a daft question!</p>

 

I did indeed , took us 6 hrs to get to Cardiff and missed the KO.

Fast run home though meant I was able to get back to Mancland by 1am.</p>

I can't wait for next season , and I can also enjoy the World Cup more now that we have gone up!</p>

 

RE: I did indeed , took us 6 hrs to get to Cardiff and missed the KO.

Travelled up to Cardiff from Devon.</p>

No problems at all.</p>

Had a fabulous day one I'll never forget.</p>