Analysis of Barnsley's 3-0 win at Emley AFC on Tuesday evening. Davis Keillor-Dunn, Robson Woodcock and Neil Farrugia scored in the first pre-season game.
POSITIVE EVENING TO START PRE-SEASON
A SHORT trip across to West Yorkshire to watch Barnsley’s first full season under Conor Hourihane begin with a 3-0 win felt like a positive evening on Tuesday.
Of course pre-season fixtures are generally meaningless, and the gap between the Reds and the eighth-tier part-timers is too large to draw any conclusions.
But they played some good football, scored three excellent goals and began to slowly build on the momentum they have generated from three recent signings – following a dire second half of last season and slightly slow start to the transfer window. It felt like the beginning of something different, even if there are plenty of questions to answer and work to do ahead of a challenging campaign.
Hourihane, using a 4-2-3-1 formation, played a blended 11 of youth and more experienced first team players in both halves. That was in contrast to Huddersfield Town who started with their strongest side on Saturday then replaced them with a team of youth players and Emley won 3-1.
Debutant goalkeeper Murphy Cooper made a very quiet debut while fellow new signings Reyes Cleary and Nathanael Ogbeta are being saved for future matches as are the players coming back from injuries such as Jack Shepherd who had surgery after helping Bradford to promotion.
CLASSIC NON-LEAGUE GROUND
Emley’s ground is a classic non-league stadium.
On one side there is a wall very close to the sideline with fans peering over it and, on the other, the pitch gets extremely bumpy and sloped with no spectators next to the neighbouring cricket pitch.
The parking for the ground is on another football pitch, with steward helpfully directing drivers around the goal posts, while a huge advert for a ‘tractor pulling’ event dominates one of the stands behind the goals. It is a good setting for non-league football and a welcoming club.
The atmosphere was positive among a crowd of 1,546 – just a few hundred less than Saturday’s attendance which was Emley’s biggest in more than 25 years – who were mainly Reds fans and seemed to enjoy themselves.
GAME SHOWS IMBALANCE IN REDS SQUAD
The friendly emphasised the imbalanced nature of Barnsley’s squad.
Hourihane’s decision to switch to a back four and play with wingers means that they have too many centre-backs and not enough wide men – something they are obviously trying to address in this window.
Barnsley’s wingers in this game were Barry Cotter and Neil Farrugia - both of whom have mainly been wing-backs in the past – and teenage forwards Aaron Atkinson and Luke Alker. They all showed glimpses of promise in that position but the Reds will surely look to bring in some more natural widemen, following the capture of highly-rated Cleary who was at the game.
As for strikers, Davis Keillor-Dunn continues to excel with the opening goal, but teenage targetman Leon Farrell was their lone striker in the second half. The only other senior strikers currently are Max Watters and Andy Dallas who were both at the game but not involved. Given Watters’ lack of consistent goal-scoring, Dallas regularly being loaned out and the obvious interest from other clubs in Keillor-Dunn, there will be serious doubts over the depth in the strikers’ department unless they sign some more firepower soon.
As for the defenders, Mael de Gevigney played at right-back, with Josh Earl, Connor Barratt and Marc Roberts all featuring in the middle of the defence for a half each. When you add Shepherd and Kacper Lopata, it seems likely that at least one of them will have to move on – and that is before factoring in that the Reds have been looking at central defenders this summer such as Paudie O’Connor who went to Reading.
THREE QUALITY GOALS
All Barnsley’s goals were high-quality.
The first saw young defender Connor Barratt find Adam Phillips with a nice pass and the midfielder then produced another fine ball from the right wing over the defence to Keillor-Dunn who rolled the ball past the goalkeeper and into the net.
Keillor-Dunn is clearly a player at the peak of his powers and losing him this summer would be a massive blow to any promotion hopes. The Reds are determined to hold out for a massive multi-million fee but there is a long way to go until the deadline so it remains to be seen if an offer will come in that they accept. He looks fully committed to the Barnsley cause, enjoying his goal and celebration then interacting with fans.
The second goal saw left-back Robson Woodcock lash home from a tight angle after being brilliantly picked out by a pass from fellow 17-year-old Kieran Graham, while the third was a fine curling strike by Farrugia into the top left corner from outside the box. Farrugia, despite being signed initially as a left wing-back, played on the right wing.
GRAHAM CATCHES EYE
Some of Barnsley’s young players took the opportunity given to them in this first friendly and deserve more gametime.
Graham was probably the most eye-catching of the youngsters, maybe even of all the players.
The Leeds lad, who turns 18 next month, has played as a forward for the youth teams and came on in attack at Reading on the final day of last season to make his debut, but was part of a two-man central midfield in this game – firstly with fellow teenager Jonathan Bland then captain Luca Connell.
Graham was the only player to play more than 45 minutes, impressing with his battling qualities and passing including a fine assist while he could have had three but Barratt headed his cross just over then Corey O’Keeffe shot high from a good position.
He was replaced on 70 minutes by Arley Kay – son of ex-Red Antony Kay – who assisted the third goal.
Woodcock had a difficult game in some ways, having to deal with a very uneven surface on his side of the pitch and much older and bigger opponents, but scoring will give him plenty of confidence.
Alker also caught the eye on the wing in the second half while goalkeeper Kieran Flavell made two good saves late on to preserve the clean sheet.
Aaron Atkinson got some minutes in after being injured all of last season having previously been close to first team action. He blazed a good chance over the bar from close range.
Bland saw a 25-yard shot saved following a fine run after more good work by Graham. Vimal Yoganathan played as the ‘number ten’ behind the striker, after Phillips did that role in the first half.
