Analysis of Barnsley's 1-0 loss at Stevenage on Tuesday. The hosts scored midway through the first half then dominated most of the game.

STEVENAGE OUTPERFORM REDS ON NIGHT AND ALL SEASON

‘TOTTENHAM away, ole, ole’ sang the gleeful home fans as their team moved a step closer to reaching the Championship whereas Barnsley will be travelling to London to play Bromley next season in League One.

This loss ended the Reds’ three-game unbeaten run and meant they have won one out of ten while they can no longer mathematically finish in the play-offs, even though we have known they are not a top six side for most the last 36 games which have brought just 40 points.

Stevenage’s place in the play-offs with two games to play this season undermines the point made by various officials at Oakwell that having a mid-table budget substantially hinders a club’s chances of competing in the top six.

When that is put to him, Conor Hourihane has said that Boro, and the likes of promoted Lincoln, have ‘no assets’ as they have recruited an older, more experienced squad for the short-term, while Barnsley are developing young players with the potential to play much higher and possibly be sold for large sums. He may have a point as – although goalkeeper Filip Marschall is an asset at 24 having kept among the most clean sheets in the country this season – Stevenage started six players in their 30s, and we may only be able to judge which system has worked best in a few years.

But surely success is also measured by which level a club is performing at compared to their history, with Stevenage in contention to reach the second tier for the first time ever while Barnsley have rarely looked further away from the division they once frequented.

The Reds have underperformed and their fans have the right to demand more than they have seen in this hugely frustrating season, regardless of what it will lead to in the future.

Stevenage’s players – not necessarily a more talented or better-paid squad than the Reds – and staff have got far more out of what they have available to them this season.

The Hertfordshire club were a non-league outfit for decades while there were more Bradford fans in the away end at Oakwell on Saturday than the whole attendance on Tuesday.

Of course the hosts had far more to play for but Barnsley still had 248 intrepid away fans backing them as well as professional pride to maintain, but they will need to perform much better in the outgoing Hourihane’s final three games – starting at in-form Luton on Saturday – to salvage a modicum of positivity going into another big summer.

SLOPPY REDS DESERVEDLY BEATEN

When this match was initially called off in September due to international call-ups, Barnsley had taken 13 points from their first six games – almost a quarter of their total now of 56 after 43.

When it was again postponed in February, just over an hour before kick-off due to a waterlogged pitch, the Reds were 15th and five points clear of the relegation zone. This time they arrived stranded in mid-table with much of the focus on a new manager and next season.

They were no match whatsoever for the home side who should have scored several more goals in what was a 1-0 thrashing.

Barnsley produced one of their better performances of the season when they beat Stevenage at Oakwell in January but – without the scorers from that day in the sold Davis Keillor-Dunn and injured David McGoldrick – this was one their worst displays.

The Reds started each half fairly well but then, following the opener midway through the first period then a goal ruled out in the second, they faded badly as confidence appeared to seep out of them.

This was a seventh game in 18 days, with the squad reduced by suspension and injury, while they were coming off a draining weekend in which Hourihane announced he was leaving then they played for more than 90 minutes with ten men against another top six side in Bradford. But that doesn’t explain the amount of daft mistakes they made.

The Reds played four centre-backs across the back four to combat their physical opponents but then they tried to play out from the back and constantly lost the ball. None of the defenders are expert passers so it was a risky tactic executed very badly by players who look like their footballing brains have been fried.

It was as if Barnsley expected a one-dimensional, ultra-direct home side and instead faced one willing to take the ball off them regularly and create chances mainly on the floor.

The Reds tried to play long passes to Tom Bradshaw but he was dominated by the tall home defenders. The visitors were a bit more creative after the break but their only shots on target arrived in the 79th and 80th minutes and were easily saved.

TOUGH NIGHT FOR ROBERTS AND SHEPHERD

Barnsley were a shambles defensively, a world away from their disciplined and gutsy performance against Bradford. The amount of times they gifted the ball to the hosts in their half leading to a chance or at least a dangerous attack threatened double figures.

Only the bottom three in the division have scored fewer goals than Boro this season so many other sides would have routed the Reds, taking their tally of 94 conceded this season to near three figures.

The defenders - especially Marc Roberts and Jack Shepherd but also Eoghan O’Connell - were the main culprits, particularly early on, but midfielders Reyes Cleary, Patrick Kelly and Kelechi Nwakali also lost the ball in dangerous areas.

They were only punished the first time when Roberts’ pass was cut out by Dan Kemp who charged into the box and found the bottom right corner for a third goal in as many games against the Reds.

It has been a tough week for Roberts who had been playing well against Bradford before heading into his own net then looking totally out of sorts in midweek, making other mistakes after the goal and it was a surprise that he was not taken off.

Shepherd appears to have lost his way completely, looking likely to make an error almost every time he has the ball. Shepherd – who was only back in the 11 because Josh Earl was rested having come back from injury then played three games in a week – completed 36 per cent of his passes before being removed at the break.

Both he and Roberts surely need a spell out of the team and there must be question marks over whether the Reds keep them, with Roberts out of contract and turning 36 in the summer while they have an option to keep Shepherd for another year.

Goalkeeper Owen Goodman kept the score down with some fine saves but then got away with a couple of major errors himself late on.

EQUALISER WRONGLY RULED OUT

Adam Phillips had an equaliser ruled out for offside early in the first half, latching onto an O’Connell pass and firing in a very similar goal to the one he scored at the same ground in 2024. But the flag went up for offside with replays showing it was the wrong decision.

Barnsley feel hard done to by referees at the moment, and with some justification, but they were totally outclassed and deserved to lose.

Also, the linesman had put his flag up while Phillips was shooting while the referee’s whistle went before the ball hit the net and the home goalkeeper appeared to make only a half-hearted attempted to stop a goal he knew would not count. We will never know if that would have gone in if the flag stayed down.

Phillips was one of a triple change at the break as he replaced the quiet Scott Banks and added a greater attacking threat, setting up other half-chances.

Shepherd and Mael de Gevigney, who has played on the left and right of the back four, were taken off for natural full-backs Corey O’Keeffe and Georgie Gent who both looked lively in attack but weak in defence.

Captain Luca Connell – back in the side after a spell on the bench with Vimal Yoganathan suspended – put in a diligent shift but rarely gave his team any control in midfield. Jono Bland played in a more advanced role but struggled to make an impact while Patrick Kelly missed the Reds’ best chances, displaying the lack of clinical finishing which is probably the only reason higher clubs might be put off making multi-million bids for him this summer.

Reyes Cleary returned to the starting 11 but could not make the impact he had been making off the bench recently.

ODD SITUATION WITH FROZEN-OUT NWAKALI BACK IN TEAM

Kelechi Nwakali made his first appearance since the home loss to Shrewsbury Town on April 26 last year, five days short of a year earlier.

It was the first time the Nigeria international has been in the first team squad all season, having been training and playing with the under 21s after Hourihane dropped him last summer and hinted it was a disciplinary issue.

The head coach has agreed, as part of his ‘mutual termination’ at the end of the season, to reintegrate Nwakali, who still has a year left on his contract.

The midfielder could still have no future at Oakwell – it depends what any incoming manager decides – but the club thinking may be that him playing four senior games at the end of the season is better than none if they are trying to move him on, having struggled to do so in previous windows.

It is a very odd scenario that a manager who tried to rule with an iron fist is now having to play a player he clearly did not want in his squad. But the entire situation is strange with Hourihane just seeing out the remainder of this grim campaign with no future at the club.

It will all be over soon but, if Nwakali scores one of the superb goals he is capable of or makes a big impact in the remaining games, it will cast real doubt on Hourihane’s exclusion of him for 41 games.

Nwakali came on for 20 minutes and, clearly lacking match sharpness, played some nice passes but also lost the ball a couple of times.

Gent – who has another year on his contract – also returned after Hourihane said earlier in the month that the left-back had displayed a lack of professionalism so was not involved.

The ‘end of school’, ‘look to the future’ vibe those selections suggested cannot have helped the Reds’ motivation against a team desperate for points.