Sponsored by
Barnsley lead way as local season turns downside up: SMITH ON SOCCER
NEVER mind politics, a week is a hell of long time in football.
Seven days ago Sheffield Wednesday had just lost to West Brom to anchor them in the bottom three, United had earned an honourable but boring draw at Ipswich as Kevin Blackwell searched for his first win as Blades boss, Barnsley had scrapped for a point at Blackpool.
Six wins later between them and the world looks a distinctly brighter place.
Wednesday are out of the relegation places, United are mid table - nine points away from the play-offs - and Barnsley have totally and utterly changed the world.
I hope the marketing department at Oakwell has it's eye on the ball.
Now the club's name is on the lips of every football fan on the planet who cares for the English game - only about six billion of them - they ought to be selling shirts in Turkestan, Thailand and Tipperary after battering one of football's richest teams.
I wonder how many players or coaching staff at those three clubs believed a week ago they would be where they are today? I suspect none of them.
What do you think? Post your comments below.
Hoping for it, dreaming of it certainly, but actually believed it, I doubt it. It doesn't end there either.
Doncaster are flying and 15 points into the play-off places. The
Millers are flagging a bit but they and Chesterfield are on the edge of the promotion spots in League Two.
After their shock win at Anfield most thought The Reds storm would blow itself out against the rock of Chelsea. But they actually outplayed them without any of the musclebound rule-bending that Portsmouth employed to produce their smaller-scale shock at Old Trafford.
Those last 15 minutes at Oakwell on Saturday were like a dream sequence.
Every player in a ten yard strip on the edge of the Barnsley penalty area. No-one was running, there was nowhere to run to.
Cross after cross after shot after pass blocked and half cleared but never quite to safety, like the punch you can never land in your sleep.
But they hung on and it was real and they deserved it, if only for Kayode Odejayi's prodigious leap and header as he brushed aside the feeble challenge of keeper Cudicini.
Not so long ago Odejayi was booed off by his own fans after missing a string of chances against Southampton.
From boo-boys' victim to club legend in the twinkling of an eye - and the Reds followed that up with a thumping 4-1 win over Ipswich on Tuesday to put them five points above the drop zone.
Of course it might all look very different this time next week.
READ MORE
Football headlines.
More Blades.
More Owls.
More Spireites.
More Rovers.
More Reds.
More Millers.
More Ice Hockey.
More rugby.
More boxing.
Sports columnists.
All sport categories.
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
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Fog
Temperature: -6 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -2 C to -1 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South west
