Shocking defending doesn't help either. Shaun Maher not really looking very comfortable on the ball, miscontrolled and was immediately closed down by Barnsley's Barry Conlon. Maher somewhat clumsily decided to dribble the ball back towards his goal, lost control again and then inexplicably tried to beat Conlon in his own 6 yard box! A leg was stuck out, down Conlon went, penalty, 1-0 Barnsley, 20 on the clock.
Some seemed to think Conlon had conned the official. Personally I thought the defending was so haphazard we got what we deserved.
5 minutes later Anthony Kaye hit one on the half-volley from distance and Moss was alert to divert the ball around the post. Bit of a Lee Hendrie strike that one nearly was.
Neither side showed that much fluency. Big Fletch went close with one header but to be honest neither side were threatening all that much. O'Connor and Hayter were busy for the Reds, but we missed the width and pace of Cummings, and Spicer and Stock were not up to their (phenomenal) standards of late.
37 and Conlon made it two in acres of space. Looked offside, but Eddie Howe was playing a dodgy game in pushing up at that moment even if he was. A neat finish from a big striker dinking the ball over the onrushing Moss having been fed by on-loan Michael Chopra. The North Stand berated the referee. The ref may have been at fault but I don't think we helped ourselves anyway.
HT: 0-2
2nd half attacking the much favoured North Stand. 2-1 on 50, nice crisp shot by Elliott helpfully deflected into the top corner following a nice touch from Hayter.
But it was never enough. Chopra having comically miscued 2 minutes earlier, finished the game off with a delightful chip. Again he had so much space the crowd assumed he was offside. I do not know as I haven't seen the footage yet. On a yellow already, Chopra may well have seen red just before for kicking the ball away. Oh well.
In all, we were not our usual selves today. We did not pass the ball as effectively as we usually do. To be blunt about it, we were rubbish and so were Barnsley. But they scored 3 goals and we only scored one so the Yorkshire lot go home happy, we go home deflated. It has been a magnificent run we have put on recently, up for the next game at Peterborough, get this one out of the system.
Wade Elliott AFCB: Moss, Maher, Howe, Broadhurst, Young, O'Connor, Elliott, Stock, Spicer, Fletcher, Hayter
Subs: Stewart, Holmes (for Young, 64 mins), Browning (on for O'Connor, 78 mins), Craine (on for Spicer, 78 mins), Connell
Vinny Goodfield, Richmond, Surrey