Barnsley 2 Brighton 1: Barnsley’s attempt to pull off Great Escape continues

IT has been a few days of considerable disruption as far as Brighton and Sussex are concerned.
Barnsley's Jason Scotland celebrates scoring during the npower Championship match at Oakwell. (Picture: Lynne Cameron/PA Wire).Barnsley's Jason Scotland celebrates scoring during the npower Championship match at Oakwell. (Picture: Lynne Cameron/PA Wire).
Barnsley's Jason Scotland celebrates scoring during the npower Championship match at Oakwell. (Picture: Lynne Cameron/PA Wire).

First a snow deluge, which left many in the south coast county stranded throughout Monday, and now a major blow to its leading football side, seeking a ticket to the Premier League for the first time in their history.

Not that Barnsley and David Flitcroft will be complaining. Having challenged his side upon being appointed as full-time manager in mid-January to amass eight Championship wins to stave off the drop, the Reds are over halfway there, having claimed five in his nine league matches in charge – with 10 still to go.

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With relegation rivals Peterborough United drawing at Leeds United, Barnsley – who went bottom shortly before kicking off in their tea-time FA Cup trouncing at Manchester City on Saturday – now find themselves out of the bottom three this morning.

As victories go, this one was, quite simply, massive with the Reds indebted to a captain’s effort from Luke Steele in saving a penalty eight minutes from time from Leonardo Ulloa after the hosts had forged a 2-1 lead, courtesy of strikes in each half from Jacob Scotland and Chris Dagnall.

The striker had shown Ulloa how it should be done earlier by netting in the 64th minute, six minutes after coming on, after Adam El-Abd was penalised for fouling him.

While there was joy for Flitcroft, whose side achieved closure, not just from the Etihad Stadium thumping but a run of one point from their previous three games, former Leeds assistant manager and Seagulls chief Gus Poyet will not be so happy.

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After whingeing about the scheduling of his side’s fixtures, Poyet is now left to rue his team missing a golden chance to break into the top six.

Three points were all that mattered for Barnsley, but it was also a bit of payback following their 5-1 hammering at Brighton earlier in the season.

It may have been travel-weary Brighton’s third away game in eight days, but they hit the fast lane early on and their band of 369 hardy supporters, who braved the elements to make the long trek, should have been hailing an opener after just three minutes.

A sweeping cross-field ball from Bruno Saltor picked out Andrea Orlandi, whose cross was headed away meekly by Scott Wiseman to the perfectly-placed Will Buckley, who with plenty of the goal to aim at, steered his low shot wide.

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Soon after, Scotland fired a sighter off target, but did not have too long to wait before crowning his first start in Reds’ colours after nine substitute appearances in the best possible fashion on 15 minutes.

The powerhouse striker seized upon hesitant defending from El-Abd following Jim O’Brien’s throughball to surge clear before coolly tucking the ball smartly past Tomasz Kuszczak.

It made him, temporarily at least, the Reds’ joint top-scorer in the Championship currently on their books with five goals – despite only arriving at the end of January.

Aside from a brief pocket of action which saw Scotland head at Kuszczak before Buckley blotted his copybook again by firing off target in a Seagulls counter, chances were at a premium for the rest of the half, with the main talking point coming on 36 minutes when the Reds’ strong appeals for a penalty were rebuffed.

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Referee Mark Heywood was unmoved after ex-England defender Matthew Upson appeared to manhandle Chris O’Grady in the box – much to Reds fans’ ire.

The half ended with Jacob Mellis’s free-kick fizzing wide and the interval refreshments did not go down as well as they might have with news concerning Peterborough’s half-time lead up the M1 at Leeds, which ensured the Reds remained in the drop zone.

In the first half, Brighton did not much resemble a side whose Championship haul of points in 2013 had been bettered only by Watford, but they soon livened up after the break.

After Steele showed his mettle to deny David Lopez and then Orlandi, the hosts buckled just before the hour mark when an inviting cross was headed in at the far post by Ulloa.

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But within five minutes Dagnall kept his cool to restore the hosts’ lead from the spot in front of the Pontefract Road end.

Brighton hit back with purpose with lively substitute Kazenga Lualua proving a real irritant, first seeing a stinging shot saved and then hitting a long-ranger wide, with Liam Bridcutt also spurning a close-range opportunity.

That opportunity they craved arrived soon after from the spot after Perkins was guilty of fouling Inigo Calderon.

But goalkeeper Steele guessed right to deny Ulloa, allowing the hosts to hold out and claim another vital victory in their Great Escape quest.

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Barnsley: Steele; Delap (Hassell 79), Wiseman, Cranie, Kennedy; O’Brien (Cywka 74), Etuhu, Perkins, Mellis; Scotland (Dagnall 58), O’Grady. Unused substitutes: Lidakevicius, Tunnicliffe, Dawson, Harewood.

Brighton and Hove Albion: Kuszczak; Saltor (Crofts 61), El-Abd, Upson, Calderon; Hammond (Barker 79), Bridcutt; Buckley, Lopez (Lualua 56), Orlandi; Ulloa. Unused substitutes: Ankergren, Greer, Dicker, Forster-Caskey.

Referee: M Heywood (Cheshire).

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