Barnsley FC must sharpen up in front of goal to avoid Championship relegation

For the Barnsley supporters who tuned in, the only thing that was unbelievable were the results elsewhere when the Reds must have thought that the world was against them with several relegation rivals posting victories.

Not that Barnsley’s first home appointment in 112 days was without positives and there were some present at an eerily-deserted Oakwell.

Conduct a straw poll of Reds followers and the overwhelming majority would probably venture that this was exactly the sort of game that Barnsley would have undeniably lost pre-lockdown.

Certainly in the bad old days in the first half of the season, for sure.

After keeping just three clean sheets from the start of the season up to mid-February, the Oakwell outfit have now mustered five in seven matches since with the defensive inconsistency which had plagued them for large swatches of 2019-20 thankfully showing signs of dissipating in the nick of time.

A test was undeniably passed in repelling the aerial stuff thrown into the box by a physically imposing Millwall side who forced eight corners.

Refreshingly and importantly, lessons had been learned from the Reds’ previous home game when they were bullied by similarly intimidating Cardiff side.

While Barnsley’s rearguard statistics are starting to measure up, a meagre return of three goals in their past six outings on home soil sadly does not at the most critical juncture of a season when it really matters.

In their attacking duties, the Reds were bog standard and lacked assuredness.

Understandably in glass-is-half full mode in the circumstances, Gerhard Struber will have at least derived satisfaction in seeing his painstaking work on the training ground with his backline bear fruit.

That was exemplified in a second stout defensive performance in a row from Mads Andersen.

Previously pilloried by fans for a series of costly mistakes which saw him taken out of the firing line with his confidence seemingly shot to pieces, the penny might just be starting to drop with the Dane, whose decision-making is starting to improve.

It does not half help when there is a senior figure close to hand in Michael Sollbauer, who produced another orderly display in which his positional sense again shone through. More’s the pity that he was not present in August.

Disregarding the obvious ticks in the box, Struber will know better than anyone that events elsewhere will have heightened the need for victory against Blackburn Rovers tomorrow night in a game that the Reds truly have to win to keep on the coat-tails of others at the bottom.

Clean sheets alone will ultimately not save Barnsley.

Full-back Ben Williams commented: “Coming off the back of the result last week, we are a little bit disappointed, but it is a second clean sheet on the bounce and we have to take the positives into Tuesday.

“I thought we were solid defensively and won our individual battles. Gerhard has spoken to every player and everyone knows what to expect now. We have been working on things and we are implementing it on the pitch.

“We have hit the ground running after lockdown (in defence) and while we did not win and it was disappointing not to get three points, but it could turn out to be an important point.”

Barnsley had one let off when a beautifully executed free-kick from Shane Ferguson hit the woodwork in the 18th minute, but other than that, there were relatively few alarms at the back with Jack Walton – making his first home league appearance since October 2018 – protected well.

Going forward, it was rather more patchy, with the sum total of their first-half efforts being a well-struck free-kick from top-scorer Cauley Woodrow which was tipped over comfortably enough by former Reds loanee Bartosz Bialkowski.

Attacking the Pontefract Road end in the second half, where the flags of place names such as Penistone, Fitzwilliam, West Melton and Athersley at least afforded one semblance of familiarity, Barnsley upped the intensity for spells, driven on Alex Mowatt.

But in the final analysis, they did not do enough to merit victory, with one dangerous moment soon after the resumption seeing Mowatt sting the palms of Bialkowski, while Sollbauer just failed to get enough purchase with a header when well placed.

It was Andersen who had the best late chance when he fired at Bialkowski, but his fruitful day did not turn into a glorious one.

Barnsley: Walton; Sollbauer, Andersen, B Williams; Ludewig, Mowatt, Palmer (Halme 84), Ritzmaier (Styles 60); Woodrow (Thomas 75); Brown, Simoes (Chaplin 45). Substitutes unused: Collins, J Williams, Bahre, Schmidt, Oduor.

Millwall: Bialkowski; Hutchinson, Cooper, M Wallace; Romeo, Molumby (Woods 81), S Williams, Ferguson (Skalak 89); J Wallace (Thompson 89); Bennett (Mahoney 81), Bradshaw (Smith 69). Substitutes unused: Steele, Pearce, Mitchell, Leonard.

Referee: J Simpson (Lancs).

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