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Reds fail to storm Palace
Barnsley 0 Crystal Palace 0
BARNSLEY endured a frustrating afternoon on Saturday as they drew a blank in their quest to push closer to the Championship play-offs.
The Reds were by far the better side against Crystal Palace at Oakwell, but they wasted a hatful of chances as the visitors clung on for a welcome point in their battle to avoid getting sucked into the relegation zone.
It was little wonder Reds boss Mark Robins was left smarting after his side had dominated the game, only to find the killer touch missing.
"I'm pleased with the performance, we've got back to something like I want, but I'm disappointed we didn't get all three," said Robins.
"If the first (goal] goes in then the others follow, but we tended to snatch at things and maybe have an extra touch.
"The pitch was poor and bobbly, but it's the same for both sides.
However, we controlled the football match so it was disappointing not to get on the end of one that counted.
"I think we found it difficult to execute a finish, our decision-making in terms of finishing wasn't great."
Argentinian goalkeeper Julian Speroni pulled off a string of excellent saves to thwart the Reds, the best of which came late in the game to deny centre-back Ryan Shotton.
The Stoke City loan defender looked to have found the top right-hand corner with a powerful header from an Adam Hammill cross, but Speroni produced a brilliant one-handed block to deny him his first goal for the club.
And there were plenty of chances that went begging as Hammill, West Brom loan midfielder Filipe Teixeira and leading scorer Daniel Bogdanovic all wasted excellent opportunities.
"We've gone so close on so many occasions, it was frustrating," added Robins.
"Their goalkeeper has been excellent without having to excel too much because we've not really hit the target with any conviction with any of our chances
"But he's made some good saves and kept them in the game."
Robins made four changes to his side which was thumped 6-1 away by Championship leaders Newcastle United at St James' Park last weekend.
A change from an unsuccessful 4-5-1 formation to a more recognised 4-4-2 line-up worked wonders for the hosts as they created lots of chances to score.
Bogdanovic and Jon Macken started up front, with Andy Gray dropped to the substitutes' bench.
Former Liverpool winger Hammill came in for Icelandic international midfielder Emil Hallfredsson, while David Preece started between the posts with first-choice keeper Luke Steele suspended for one match having been sent off against the Magpies.
There was a place on the bench for new signing Jonathan Lund, the Burnley loan keeper having joined for one match as emergency cover for Preece.
As early as the fourth minute Teixeira forced Speroni to produce a smart stop, but his effort wouldn't have counted as he was offside.
Hammill then curled a rasping right-foot shot over the bar, before Bobby Hassell made a superb last-ditch block to deny midfielder Nick Carle what looked like a certain goal.
Preece made a fine block from an Alan Lee header at his near post not long after, while at the other end Bogdanovic countered for the Reds and saw his right-foot shot blocked inside the visitors' penalty area.
Hammill then squandered a glorious chance to score, poking wide of the right upright after a bursting run into the box.
Bogdanovic forced a fine one-handed save from the on-song Speroni diving full stretch to his right and, just a minute later Hugo Colace blazed over from the edge of the area.
Hammill had a shot charged down as the Reds continued to dominate, Bogdanovic fired wide with a left foot shot on the turn and Teixeira saw his shot cannon off the striker and into the hands of the thankful Speroni.
The restart was a slow affair and both sides struggled to create chances, but in the 65th minute Macken did well to hold off three defenders, but fired a weak shot straight at Speroni.
Macken turned provider seven minutes later, cutting the ball back from the byline only to see Teixeira horribly miscue and fail to hit the target from a great position. It was another glaring miss.
Hammill rifled a shot wide with 10 minutes to go, Speroni saved brilliantly from Shotton, Macken scuffed a shot in front of goal and then substitute Jacob Butterfield was unlucky with a curling shot which was inches wide of the right upright.
A point saw the Reds stay 13th in the table.
It was their first draw in 13 Championship outings – ironically the last drawn game was against the Eagles earlier this season.
Somehow you'd expect the irony to be lost on Robins, especially with the news that Stoke City loan left-back could be out for the rest of the season having suffered ligament damage.
Robins said: "We'll have to assess the damage, but it doesn't look great at this stage."
Midfielder Nathan Doyle also suffered partial blindness in one eye after a heavy collision.
Robins will hope both players will still play a big part in the rest of the campaign with a play-off place still achievable.
Boss's View
"I THOUGHT we were good value for all three points, but when you create as many chances as we did and you don't take any of them, perhaps we are happy with what we got – which was a clean sheet and a point.
"You want to win your home games and we created enough chances to do so, we were really good value for a win.
"But Crystal Palace gave it a really good do and, after last week's hammering, it was good to keep a clean sheet."
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
