QPR face a difficult trip north on Tuesday night for their Championship game in hand against Barnsley

Barnsley (17th) v Queens Park Rangers (16th)
Coca Cola Championship
Tuesday February 26 2008
Oakwell, Kick Off 7.45pm

So, following in from the 1-1 draw with Sheffield United on Saturday, next up for us is a fixture against another South Yorkshire club, this time Barnsley at their Oakwell ground. This game of course was due to have taken place earlier on this month at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon, however due to Barnsley’s FA Cup tie at Liverpool in the fifth round taking place that day, we now find ourselves facing another long trip up there midweek.

Tuesday night’s game will actually be their first game at home since their Anfield exploits, so for those of us making our way up there, we’re sure to expect plenty of Wemberleee chants from the home faithful with them having drawn Chelsea at home in the quarter finals. Incidentally that game will be taking place on the same day as our game at Sheffield Wednesday, albeit their match kicks off later on, that Saturday is sure to be a nice little overtime bonus for South Yorkshire police.

Their players wouldn’t be human if they’re already thinking about that game at the back of the minds. Can we take advantage of them possibly being a tad distracted in the league at this current time? Well, Norwich City managed it on Saturday, but with them being at home it will be a different kettle of fish for us, so we’ll need to be on our toes for this one.

Five minutes on Barnsley
Some ten years ago, Barnsley were gracing the Premier League with their presence, and though they only had the one season up there they nearly made it back the following season when they made the play off’s, only to lose in the final. Somehow it all went wrong. Nigel Spackman was employed as their new manager following Dave Bassett’s departure and by the autumn time of 2001, they were at the wrong end of the table; the board took the decision to sack Spackman, and shortly afterwards Steve Parkin was installed. They managed to get a mini revival going during the winter time, but were unable to keep the momentum going, and at the end of the 2001/02 season, a mere four years after having played in the Premier League, they found themselves playing in the lower regions of the football league, something the club had not done for around 20 years or so.

If Tykes fans thought this was bad, then they didn’t know that worse was to follow, because the following season it was announced that the club were entering into administration. In fact, things looked so bad for them at one time that fans did a 30-mile walk to their game at Chesterfield in a bid to help their club raise funds (hmmm, there is a very familiar sound to this story isn’t there?) and it was nearing Christmas before new buyers were found for the club. The mayor of Barnsley put his name into the hat and proved to be the successful one out of a number of interested parties.

The next couple of seasons saw the club stabilise in League 1, though they did have a couple of managers during that time - Paul Hart, and then Andy Ritchie. It was with Ritchie that the club made the play off final at the end of the 2005/06 season. They over came local rivals Huddersfield in the semi finals, with a certain Danny Nardiello scoring the all important goal for them in that second leg that sent them into a play off final against the then favourites Swansea City. The Tykes however defied the odds, and went on to beat the Swans in a memorable penalty shoot-out, and so it was that four years after tumbling out of the old First Division (now the Championship) that they found themselves back there.

Last season was all about staying up for them, and fair enough they achieved that. They did take all three points off us up there on a cold January night that sent us bottom of the league (though I still remained positive even then!). This season I guess is all about consolidation, and whilst they’ve been a bit up and down (especially away from home) personally I think they’ve done, and will continue to do, enough to secure themselves a mid/mid-bottom place for the end of this season. Their squad (and we’ll take a closer look below at who we can expect to start against us) looks good enough, but let’s just hope they don’t decide to raise their game against us as those of us making the trip up there really do not want to see us lose there once again on a cold winter’s night for the second successive season.

Simon Davey was appointed as their first team manager midway through last season following Andy Ritchie’s departure. Simon had originally joined Barnsley only during that summer as the new manager of their academy and is highly regarded. As a player he played for Swansea, Carlisle and Preston, and it was at Preston that he had to hang up his playing boots at the early age of 27 after sustaining an injury that put paid to his playing career. Hearing him talk on Goals on Sunday on Sky a couple of weeks ago it was refreshing to hear him talk about getting on with things and subsequently throwing himself into coaching, such was his enthusiasm to stay in the game. He was very complimentary towards David Moyes, saying he learnt a lot from him during his time at Preston and after a year now in charge at Barnsley it’s fair to say he’s been doing a good job there. Whether they get to hang on to him in the summer is of course another matter.

Who to watch out for
When looking at their squad, the first thing that becomes apparent is that there are no immediate big star type players that leap out, but on closer looking there’s certainly enough players that make you realise they have enough within their squad to ensure a midtable finish. We all witnessed Luke Steele’s heroics in goal for them at Anfield, and expect the on loan keeper to keep his place ahead of Tony Warner. Saturday’s defence included Bobby Hassell, Stephen Foster and Rob Kozluk. Foster signed for the Tykes from Burnley in the summer and has featured regularly for them this season at centre half, whilst Kozluk, who also signed for them in the summer, is a defender who can play central, left or right back.

In the midfield they have pacy winger, Martin Devaney, who originally caught the eye whilst at Cheltenham Town; Brazilian Anderson De Silva, who signed from Everton after a successful loan; Diego Leon, an ex La Liga player who is described as a playmaker in the middle of the field; and Jamal Campbell-Ryce. Jamal certainly caught my eye in the game at Loftus Road a few weeks ago. He started his professional football career off at Charlton, but then went on to have spells at Leyton Orient, Chesterfield and Rotherham, before moving to Southend in the summer of 2006. He spent a season there before signing for the Tykes at the start of this season. When we played them at our place, much of the play came from the little man and should he start against us, will definitely need watching.

Up front they will be missing Daniel Nardiello, so I would expect to see a partnership of two from Kayode Odejayi, Istvan Ferenczi or Jonathan Macken. Macken is a seasoned pro, who’s played for Manchester City, Preston, Crystal Palace and Ipswich in the past. Davey signed him from Derby County on loan in November to add some depth to their squad. He is a former £5m pound man, with Manchester City having paid this fee for his services after he hit prolific form for Preston at the turn of the new Millennium. However, he never showed the same form for them, which must have miffed them and he moved on to Crystal Palace a couple of seasons ago.

Odejayi is a former Cheltenham Town player, scoring 13 goals for them last season. He signed for his new club in the summer but has yet to start making his mark with them this season, so long may that continue against us!

Ferenczi is a Hungarian international player who signed for the club a year ago last January. He has featured quite regularly for them so far this season, and I expect he’ll be exchanging a few comments with our own Akos either before or after the game, He currently has four goals under his belt so far this campaign.

*Tracy’s star man
Brian Howard for me will be the one to watch. He joined Barnsley from Swindon Town at the start of the 2005/06 season and helped them to achieve their aim of securing promotion to the championship, scoring five goals along the way, featuring really only for the second part of that season after fighting his way back to fitness following a nasty metatarsal injury. Last season he played 44 games for them, scored eight goals, and was voted as their player of the season. Already this campaign, he’s made 36 appearances in all competitions, and has ten goals to his name, including that incredible strike up at Anfield. A very, very useful midfield man indeed, though perhaps our one saving grace could be that he won’t want to pick up any bookings, so that thought might make him a tad quiet.

Past Meetings
As mentioned above, last season brought about a win for the home side in this fixture. It was a very cold night, we were involved in a dogfight at the bottom of the table, and we went on to lose 2-0 which sent us rock bottom that night. I do remember that Brian Howard scored a cracker of a goal for them that evening quite late on which just about made our misery complete! Interestingly, only Rehman, Stewart, Mancienne and Blackstock remain at the club out of the squad named that night.

Barnsley: Colgan 7, Hassell 6, Reid 6, Togwell 6, Richards 7, Howard, 8, Kay 6 (K Reid 74, 7), Eckersley 6, Nardiello 6, Devaney 7, McCann 6
Subs: Lucas, Coulson, Atkinson, Mattis
Scorers: Richards 45, Howard 90
Bookings: Togwell (foul), Richards (time wasting)

QPR: Royce 6, Rehman 5 (Nygaard 85, -), Bolder 6, Lomas 6 (Ainsworth 74, 5), Cook 7, Stewart 6, Timoska 6, Furlong 5 (Jones 70, 5), Blackstock 7, Smith 5, Mancienne 6
Subs not used: Cole, Kanyuka
Bookings: Timoska (shirt pulling), Mancienne (foul)

Barnsley 2 QPR 0 Match Report

At Loftus Road in January Rangers ran out 2-0 winners thanks to two goals in the first half Patrick Agyemang got the first after five minutes when he chipped the keeper and then nodded home as the ball returned to earth, Rowan Vine got the second after two nice one twos with Agyemang on the edge of the area.

QPR: Camp 7, Connolly 7, Hall 7 (Mancienne 7), Stewart 7 (Lee -), Delaney 8, Vine 8, Rowlands 8+, Leigertwood 8, Buzsaky 6, Blackstock 5 (Ephraim -), Agyemang 8
Subs not used: Crowther, Balanta
Goals: Agyemang (assisted Blackstock), Vine (assisted Agyemang)

Barnsley: Muller 6, Hassell 6, Van Homoet 5, Foster 6, Tininho 6, Campbell-Ryce 8, Howard 6, Coulson 5 (Odejayi 55, 5), Devaney 5 (Ricketts 70, 6), Leon 7 (Ferenczi 54, 5), Souza 5.
Subs Not Used: Kozluk, Togwell

QPR 2 Barnsley 0 Match Report

Head to Head
Barnsley wins – 13
Draws – 9
QPR wins – 19

Previous Rangers results against Barnsley:
2007/08 Rangers 2 Barnsley 0 (Agyemang, Vine)
2006/07 Barnsley 2 Rangers 0
2006/07 Rangers 1 Barnsley 0 (Rowlands)
2003/04 Barnsley 3 Rangers 3 (Kay own goal, Furlong 2)
2003/04 Rangers 4 Barnsley 0 (Gallen, Rowlands, Ainsworth, Thorpe)
2002/03 Rangers 1 Barnsley 0 (Pacquette)
2002/03 Barnsley 1 Rangers 0
2001/02 Rangers 2 Barnsley 0 (Kiwomya, Crouch)
2001/02 Barnsley 4 Rangers 2 (Kiwomya 2)
1999/00 Barnsley 1 Rangers 1 (Rose)
1999/00 Rangers 2 Barnsley 2 (Darlington, Steiner)
1998/99 Barnsley 1 Rangers 0
1998/99 Rangers 2 Barnsley 1 (Langley, Gallen)
1996/97 Rangers 3 Barnsley 2 (Peacock, Spencer, Sinclair)
1996/97 Rangers 3 Barnsley 1 (Spencer 3)
1996/97 Barnsley 1 Rangers 3 (Barker, Perry, Dichio)

Team News
For Barnsley, there’s no suspension worries for them, though they do have two or three players precariously close to getting themselves a one match ban should those players pick up a yellow card against us so they’ll be more than aware of this, particularly Brian Howard. There were two or three players that had to sit out the game against Liverpool due to being cup tied, but Davey should have a near enough full squad to choose from for our game, the exception being Daniel Nardiello, who I imagine will be unable to play against us due to him being on loan there. At least I hope there’s a clause in the contract anyway.

For us, we wait to hear if Gavin Mahon will be ok after missing out on the game against the Blades, he experienced discomfort when striking the ball in training and wasn’t fit enough to take part in that 1-1 draw. Both Connolly and Rowlands picked up minor knocks but should be alright to start. Akos Buzsaky will be back after his one match suspension, so expect to see him feature.
Injury List

Referee
Official for the game will be Mr Ilderton whose last QPR match was way back in 2002 when we travelled to Wigan and drew 1-1. His last two Barnsley games have yielded impressive home wins for the Tykes.
Details

What’s going on elsewhere?
There’s two other games taking place in the Championship Tuesday night. Play off pushing Burnley are at home to Coventry City, who secured a win on Saturday for new boss Chris Coleman. Whilst third from bottom club Preston, play host to table topping Stoke City.

Form
Whilst there’ll be plenty of excitement at Oakwell regarding their FA cup exploits, Davey will be aware that their recent form in the league needs to pick up ASAP. Their February form in the league has been poor, picking up just one win from four, with the other games being defeats at Coventry, Plymouth and Norwich. The one win so far in the league for this month came against surprisingly WBA, who they defeated 2-1. They’re currently one place below us in the table in 17th place, and are on the same amount of points as us.

Our February forum hasn’t been too bad with two wins, one defeat and a draw for us so far. If we win, we can lift ourselves two places up the table to 14th, a loss however would send Barnsley above us, and depending on whether Coventry win their game, could also potentially send us down to 18th place. But, I am confident that is not going to happen.
Form Table

Prediction
I am not going all the way up to south Yorkshire, yet again on a cold winter’s Tuesday night just to see us lose, so Rangers please take note…. Being realistic, of course it’s going to be a tough one this. I have a feeling the home crowd will be up for it, and if the players match their fans’ expectations, then we could be in trouble. However, I think we’re going to dig deep and there’s no reason why we cannot come away with all three points this time around, especially if we can catch them whilst they are napping and dreaming about Wembley. I am therefore going to predict a snatch and grab 1-0 win for us. Come on U R’s.
Prediction League

Photo: Action Images

Colchester United Polls