People’s jobs were on line, says Kennedy

Tom Kennedy insists Barnsley’s go-slow in Saturday’s farcical denouement at Huddersfield Town was fully justified with so many people’s jobs riding on the game’s outcome.

Reds and Town players were happy to wind down the clock in the final stages of Saturday’s dramatic Championship survival clash, with visiting goalkeeper Luke Steele allowed to play keep-ball unchallenged for two minutes; both sides were safe after Crystal Palace’s late winner against Peterborough United relegated the latter.

Left-back Kennedy admits the bizarre finale was not in the spirit of the game, but says it was a necessary tactic with Barnsley players mindful that relegation would not only have cost many their Reds careers, but also the jobs of other members of the club’s staff.

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Kennedy, who unwittingly deflected James Vaughan’s 81st-minute strike into the net to make it 2-2 – which would have relegated Barnsley but for Palace’s 89th-minute winner – said: “Towards the end, no one knew what was going on. Then we found out Peterborough were losing, so in the last five minutes, we laid off it a little bit.

“I did not really have a clue what was going on or whether to go forward or back. It was madness.

“It isn’t in support of the game. But at the end of the day, people’s livelihoods were on the line.

People couldn’t realise how big it was for the club and the players.”

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After suffering the heartache of relegation with Coventry City last term, influential Reds defender Martin Cranie sampled the polar opposite in terms of emotions at the John Smith’s Stadium on Saturday.

And having helped clinch the Reds’ safety, the 26-year-old’s thoughts have turned to securing his longer-term future at Oakwell; Cranie is one of a number of players whose deals expire in June.

Also out of contract will be Steele, Kennedy, Kelvin Etuhu, Stephen Foster, Jason Scotland, Jim McNulty, Marlon Harewood, Tomasz Cywka, Bobby Hassell and Rob Edwards.

Cranie said: “I felt it last year and knew what it is like to go down. But Saturday was definitely my proudest day in football.

“Now we know we are going to be in the Championship next year, the chairman can have a chat (with manager David Flitcroft) about who he is going to keep and what he wants to do.”