03/03 Barnsley 2nd Half

By: Tony Butcher
Date: 04/03/2001

Two changes at half time - Coldicott replaced Burnett and Allen replaced Jeffrey. Town now lined up in a non 4-4-2 formation. Donovan will probably be described as a having a free role, which is relatively accurate - no-one knew where he was.

Grimsby Town 0 Barnsley 2
03 Mar 2001, Nationwide League Division 1

Coldicott seemed to play out on the right wing a lot and no-one was on the left. A disaster. A shocker. A mess. Awful. Appalling. Clueless nonsense. Allen buzzed and floated into space behind his marker a few times, but never got the ball in the penalty area. In fact I can't remember any of the strikers receiving the ball in the box. Nothing happened for 10 minutes. They didn't have any shots, and Town had a lot of possession 30 yards out. But nothing happened. Then Barnsley got a free kick half way inside the Town half, on the Town centre right. The free kick was given for a barely noticeable shove by Groves (I think), it was certainly not worth giving a free kick for. I think Shipperley got it because he asked politely. You see, good manners brings rewards. Perhaps Town players should open a few doors for old ladies, that way they might get a penalty this season. The free kick was chipped beyond the far post where Enhua headed back and out, into a huge space on the edge of the penalty area. A Barnsley player waddled forward and shot low towards Coyne, who blocked it sideways to his right. DYER, ambled towards the 6 yard line and side footed the ball into the net. You will have noticed that I haven't mentioned a Town defender after Enhua headed the ball out. No need, you see, no-one moved. Not one person. The Town supporters didn't make any noise. Silent, seated and sad. It was as if there was a realisation that the season has ended. The best way to describe it would be a collective shrug.

Grimsby Town Coyne McDermott Enhua Groves Gallimore Donovan Willems Burnett Campbell Jeffrey Rowan   Subs Coldicott Allen Handyside Croudson Butterfield   Attendance 5,996   Referee Andy Hall (Birmingham)   League Table Ps Team P GD Pts 13 Barnsley 35 -7 41 14 Wolves 33 -1 40 15 Gills 34 -4 39 16 Pompey 34 -6 38 17 Palace 34 -6 37 18 Crewe 33 -12 36 19 Sheff W 35 -24 35 20 Grimsby 33 -17 34 21 Stock't 35 -15 33 22 QPR 34 -22 32 23 Hudds 33 -9 31 24 Tranm' 32 -20 28 Full table

I can't say that the second goal enervated the players, quite the opposite in fact. They appeared to accept their lot. Shortly after the goal a player received treatment and there was a short break in play. The Barnsley players huddled in groups talking to each other and, obviously organising and discussing the game. The Town players stood with hands on hips staring blankly forward. No-one talked at all. They had the appearance of a group who just wanted to go inside. Make you own foot and mouth analogy.

I do recall saying at one point "there's still 28 minutes left", which was greeted by a huge groan from those sat around me. It was slow, slow torture, with nothing positive on which to hang even a thread of self deluding hope. The chronology of events is now irrelevant, there was a black hole between the second goal and the 80th minute (when Handyside replaced Rowan. Groves played as a centre forward and played like a Livvo - slow but strong with some positional awareness). Most of the second half was taken up with Town lumping balls forward. A complete waste of time and I fully expect to hear another interview with Willems in which he bemoans the ball "always being in the air in the second half". The times Town did have threatening moments were all wasted by the narrowness of the formation. Three times Campbell received the ball in the middle of the pitch about 25 yards out, with a big space out to his left. He looked to pass wide, but no-one was there. Poor old Gallimore was expected to play as a left winger as well. And when he did "get up there" he looked like a startled rabbit and didn't do anything positive with it. There were three or four superbly weighted passes from Willems which set Gallimore free, but his hesitancy (and the iciness of the pitch) halted proceedings.

Similarly on the right, Town messed things up by having Stacy C plonked on the touchline. Why? Why? Why? And on other occasions Town had 4 or 5 players standing within a few yards of each other, having far too many players in a small area. From behind the goal it was blindingly obvious that none of the players knew where to stand in the 4-3-3 formation. Either they all ran to the same spot, or no-one ran into any spot. The familiar refrain of "no width" muttered its way along the Pontoon. Willems had a scuffed shot from about 10 yards, to the left of the goal, which resulted in a goal kick (when it seemed to bounce off a Barnsley knee) and Campbell had a shot charged down. I can't remember Miller making any saves at all.

Coyne, on the other hand, was very busy in the last quarter of an hour. Twice Dyer was sent free behind the defence, firstly Enhua messed up a clearance and allowed Dyer to run into the area from the Town right. Dyer blasted his shot into the side netting. A few minutes later Enhua disappeared again leaving Dyer totally free down the centre. McDermott sprinted back and forced Dyer to go wide to the left of goal. Coyne came out and narrowed the angle too, forcing Dyer to smash the ball in the side netting again. I think Coyne had to make a save as well, but I can't remember. It was all a dispiriting blur down the Osmond End.

On 79 minutes Handyside came on to an appreciative cheer. His first touch was a sublime ease and tackle to rob Dyer. Of course, Handyside turned round and stroked a pass directly to a Town player. A couple of minutes later Handyside headed a corner, from the Town left, towards the bottom left hand corner of the goal. Dyer hooked the ball away from just in front of the line. There was a load of pressure from Town in the last 10 minutes, but nothing tangible resulted. Huff and puff (that's Coldicott and Donovan to you), but not one shot. Yes, Barnsley defended "resolutely", and were organised, but Town had neither wit nor tactics to cause them difficulties. There were 3 minutes of injury time, which just meant it was three more minutes before we could leave the scene of the accident. Blundell Park is becoming a bit of an accident blackspot these days.

The Town fans didn't boo (apart from 3 or 4 who did it out of habit). We just got up and went home. Silently. We don't expect anything but relegation. No-one booed or heckled any player. No-one booed the manager or board. We just seemed to recognise that it's probably all over. How many more nadirs can we have in this season?

Individually Willems, Gallimore, Groves, Coyne and McDermott were not bad (Willems was outstanding until he visibly tired in the last 15 minutes, getting caught in possession a couple of times). The others were average, to lacklustre, to invisible. They didn't seem a team in the second half, merely men in a field.

Blundell Park - abandon hope all ye who enter here. Apart from the opposition.

Nicko's Man of the Match - only one contender, Menno Willems. Great. Super.

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