Sponsored by
BARNSLEY 1 WATFORD 0 - MATCH REPORT
BARNSLEY boss Mark Robins was understandably delighted with his improving side as they clung on with 10 men to claim their highest Championship position of the season.
Emil Hallfredsson's 55th--minute goal was the difference between the two sides as the Reds climbed two places to ninth in the standings.
But defender Ryan Shotton's 76th-minute red card for a mistimed tackle on fellow full-back Lloyd Doyley – his second sending-off of the season -
forced the hosts to soak up a barrage of pressure in the closing stages.
Five minutes of injury time time didn't make life any easier and it was left to goalkeeper Luke Steele - who had little to do all afternoon - to make sure the hosts held on to maximum points with a brilliant save to deny Arsenal loan ace Henri Lansbury in the dying seconds.
The Hornets also had an equalising goal disallowed when Danny Graham's
header was chalked out for a foul by the striker, but Robins' team had the better of the chances and got revenge for a 1-0 defeat at Vicarage Road in September.
"I thought we played some good football but we nearly go and commit suicide by losing a man; that was the most disappointing thing for me," admitted Robins.
"However, I thought we were excellent value for a win. We're on a decent run having won three of our last four.
"It was a very hard-fought three points, but very welcome all the same.
"Everybody contributed today and I thought we moved the ball well because they made life difficult for us."
Despite his side's second successive victory, having thumped Preston North End 4-1 in Tuesday night, Robins was not happy Shotton's carelessness had nearly cost his team dear.
"He's got to learn to concentrate a bit more; at the moment there's too many times he's laxidasical," Robins said.
"If he does that he'll be a Premiership player, but the real disappointment for me is that we'll be without him on Tuesday (away to Middles-brough)."
Earlier in the day Robins had the luxury of naming an unchanged team for the visit of the Hornets.
An impressive 4-1 away victory over Preston North End on Tuesday night meant he would have been hard pushed to tinker with his winning side.
West Brom loan midfielder Filipe Teixera was handed his home debut having impressed in his first match against the Lilywhites in midweek And there was also another place on the substitutes bench for Burnley loan striker Jay Rodriguez. The 20-year-old wasted no time in making an impression for the Reds, scoring with his first tough at Deepdale.
There was one change on the bench as Maltese international striker Daniel Bogdanovic missed out with a knee injury and was replaced by young midfielder Jacob Butterfield.
The visitors made just one change to the side which beat Sheffield United 3-0 on Tuesday night at Vicarage Road.
Manchester United loan midfielder Tom Cleverley, who scored against the Blades in midweek, missed out through injury and Jon Harley took is place in the Hornets' starting line-up.
Lansbury again started for Malky Mackay's team who sat just one place and one point below the Reds in the Championsip standings.
The Reds started the better of the two sides and early on Teizeira had a right-foot shot deflected shot saved by Hornets keeper Scott Loach.
Hallfredsson fired wide of the post in the 13th minute before Teixeira teed himself up for a volley, but this time his left-foot strike flew wide of the right upright.
Anderson De Silva, who netted in midweek, had a right-foot shot deflected for a corner as the Reds continued to make all the running.
Teixeira shot wide of the right-hand post again shortly after the hour mark, but still the hosts couldn't get the opening goal.
Lansbury then had a penalty appeal waved away having gone down in the box after a slide tackle from leftback Carl Dickinson.
Teixeira, at the heart of the best of the Reds' attacking forays, fired over just before the break.
However, the pressure was unrelenting following the restart and Hallfredsson blasted over with an ambitious left-foot shot three minutes in, before, in the 54th minute, midfielder Nathan Doyle crashed a 30-yard thunderbolt against the base of the right-hand post.
The pressure finally told and a minute later Gray sent Hallfredsson through with a fine pass and the Lyo Oslo loan midfielder rifled a sweet left-foot strike beyond Loach for his third goal of the season.
Martin Taylor forced Steele to make his first save of the afternoon in the 72nd minute, his header from a Don Cowie corner straight at the keeper.
Not long after Shotton got his marching orders and the Reds had to face a total of 19 minutes with a man down.
Gray could have made it 2-0, but his right-foot curler was athletically saved by the outstretched Loach, before Graham had an equalising header cancelled out three minutes from time for a push.
It was then Steele's brilliant save at the death, following by a glaring missing seconds later by Hornets right-back Adrian Mariappa inside the six-yard box, which saw the Reds finally cross the winning line.
Hornets boss Mackay was furious with Essex referee Fred Graham for not awarding his side a first-half penalty and for also chalking off Danny Graham's second-half equaliser for a foul.
"I look at the two major decisions in the game and it's embarrassing," blasted Mackay.
"The penalty decision in the first half was bad and then Danny Graham's header ... It was an embarrassing decision and if the referee looks at that again he'll be embarrassed.
The Hornets have now not won away from home since October - and Mackay admits that worrying form is a major cause for concern.
"You want to pick up the points away from home and I think we certainly deserved something from that game," he said.
"I was proud of our performance in the way we applied ourselves. We gave a good account of ourselves.
"We were deserving of more than we got today. After going a goal down we showed a lot of character and played well."
Boss's View
I thought we played some good football and in the second half we passed the ball a lot better, culminating in a goal.
We were a little bit bitty in the first half, but the conditions were difficult and obviously Watford had come to make it difficult for us to play.
I made a change (by bringing on Rodriguez) and we managed to get a goal on the back of that. And then we nearly go and commit suicide by losing a man.
What do you think? Add your comment below.
JOIN THE STAR READER PANEL: The Star is YOUR newspaper, so tell us what you think about it and what you want to see - CLICK HERE.
Don't miss our daily pull-outs - only in the The Star: Monday Star Sport, Tuesday Class Act; Wednesday Business; Thursday Grassroots; Friday Time Out; Saturday Retro. Subscribe to The Star - CLICK HERE
READ MORE
Subscribe to The Star or Green 'Un
Visit our Matchday Centre for free live coverage of every match
Football headlines. Football gossip. Blades news Owls news Reds news. Millers news. More rugby. More boxing. Sports columnists.
All sport categories
Free E-Mag: Premier League 2009-10 Preview
Watch Premiership highlights, international football, golf, tennis, darts and much more - click here
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
