Trouble mounts on and off the pitch as Barnsley sink to bottom

The discriminatory language claims first…

At half-time, an announcement was made over the public address system which seemed to state – because, let’s be frank, most PA announcements are impossible to hear clearly – that some form of racist/homophobic/sexist language had been used by Barnsley fans in the CK Beckett Stand behind the goal.

Then, towards the end of the second half, another announcement was made which seemed to warn fans once again about using such language, which would “not be tolerated at any EFL ground”.

Coming just two weeks after Barnsley were fined £20,000 by the Football Association and told to implement an action plan after some of their fans directed sectarian abuse at Stoke City’s James McClean during a fixture at Oakwell in November, it was something that Barnsley needed like a hole in the head – especially with only nine games left to save themselves on the field, and the gap to safety now standing at seven points (effectively eight if one considers goal difference).

The club, having warned admirably on this subject in the matchday programme, subsequently released the following statement: “The first (PA) announcement related to an isolated incident in the South Stand, reported by Barnsley FC supporters towards the end of the first half. Stewards were deployed to the specific area. No further reports were made; however, a comprehensive investigation is now underway. Any form of discrimination is wholly unacceptable and will not be tolerated at Oakwell. We will take the strongest possible action against any individual found to be behaving in such a manner.

“The second announcement relates to a discriminatory chant sung by Cardiff City supporters, reported in the second half. Barnsley FC will work openly with Cardiff City on this matter.”

Some of the most “offensive” chanting – or, at least, the most audible – came from Cardiff fans at their own expense. Indeed, sundry self-deprecating references to sheep filled the cold and blustery air, references best left imagined than described.

Such shenanigans at least added a splash of humour to an otherwise humourless first half, one ideally observed through a blindfold. It was a half that produced one shot on target, Albert Adomah striking an 18-yard drive that elicited a functional save from Barnsley goalkeeper Brad Collins at his near post.

Barnsley were the better team in that first period, not that this was a cause for riotous back-slapping. Cauley Woodrow was not far away with a 20-yard drive, and Luke Thomas bent a left-footed effort just wide of a post.

The hosts tried to play football but were up against opponents who made that ambition difficult, out-muscling them at key times in what was a mostly physical, attritional battle to which Cardiff initially contributed nothing as an attacking force.

Whatever their manager, Neil Harris, said to them at half-time, however, should rightly be bottled and stacked on supermarket shelves where there currently seems plenty of room in the toilet roll department.

Cardiff literally exploded into life at the start of the second period as if Harris had sent them out with dynamite in their shorts; there was a rat-a-tat-tat of efforts as Callum Paterson had a close-range header saved, Junior Hoilett stabbed over from six yards and Leandro Bacuna went close from distance.

Paterson thought that he should have had a penalty when Collins dropped a high ball and then seemed to hack him down to prevent him from reaching it, only for referee James Linington to have perhaps forgotten to remove his own blindfold.

Collins saved well with his legs from Joe Bennett before Cardiff’s pressure told midway through the half, Will Vaulks prodding home from close range after a goalmouth scramble and, 60 seconds later, Paterson neatly dispatching a long ball thumped over the top. The Barnsley of the first half was now nowhere to be seen.

“We forgot our style of play,” lamented head coach Gerhard Struber. “The first half was not a special performance from us but was okay. In the second half, we forgot everything. We looked a little afraid and were too quick to play the long ball. When you play in the same style as Cardiff, you have no chance.

“It was disappointing for me and my team. That is not the real face of my team. I think we showed our fans two faces in this game.

“The pressure is high. My team can play very well, but sometimes we have big problems to bring a performance to stay in the league. This is the reality.”

Struber is adamant that Barnsley can survive – it would be slightly odd if he contended otherwise – and midfielder Alex Mowatt concurred.

“We’ve got to believe until the last game,” he said. “We’ve shown we can go on a run by winning three on the bounce recently, but we need to put in a performance for the full 90 minutes instead of 45.”

Barnsley: Collins; Ludewig, Sollbauer, Halme, B Williams; Thomas, Mowatt, Ritzmaier, Woodrow; Chaplin (Schmidt 83), Brown (Simoes 72). Unused substitutes: Walton, J Williams, Dougall, Andersen, Bahre.

Cardiff City: Smithies; Sanderson, Morrison, Nelson, Bennett; Becuna, Vaulks, Ralls (Pack 82); Adomah, Paterson (Glatzel 88), Hoilett (Murphy 85). Unused substitutes: Etheridge, Flint, Whyte, Smith.

Referee: J Linington (Isle of Wight).