Npower Championship Matchday Twenty-Five: Barnsley v Blackburn Rovers

28 December 2012 20:13
Match Preview

Team News:

Stephen Foster returns from suspension and David Perkins should start despite being taken off with 20 minutes to go of Boxing Day’s 2-1 defeat to Birmingham as a precaution.

Akos Buzsaky, Emile Sinclair, Martin Cranie and Reuben Noble-Lazarus all remain sidelined.

Last time out - Barnsley Team:

Luke Steele   

Bobby Hassell

Scott Golbourne

Stephen Foster

Martin Cranie

John Stones

Stephen Dawson

Jim O’Brien

David Perkins

Chris Dagnall

Marcus Tudgay Head To Head

Last Six Barnsley v Birmingham Results:

18/9/12 Blackburn 2-1 Barnsley (Championship)

16/1/02 Blackburn 3-1 Barnsley (FA Cup)

5/1/02 Barnsley 1-1 Blackburn (FA Cup)

3/2/01 Blackburn 0-0 Barnsley (Division One)

8/11/00 Barnsley 1-2 Blackburn (Division One)

22/1/00 Barnsley 5-1 Blackburn (Division One)

Overall Record:

Barnsley Wins: 11

Blackburn Wins: 28

Draws: 19

Barnsley Goals: 65

Blackburn Goals: 100.

At Oakwell:

Barnsley Wins: 5

Blackburn Wins: 11

Draws: 14

Barnsley Goals: 33

Blackburn: 36

This Season

Last six 2012-2013 results:

Barnsley:

26/12/12 Barnsley 1–2 Birmingham (Championship)

22/12/12 Millwall 1-2 Barnsley (Championship)

15/12/12 Barnsley 0–1 Sheffield Wednesday (Championship)

8/12/12 Leicester 2-2 Barnsley (Championship)

1/12/12 Watford 4-1 Barnsley (Championship)

27/11/12 Barnsley 1-1 Burnley (Championship)

W: 1 D: 2 L: 3 F: 7 A: 11 GD: -4 Points: 5

Blackburn:

26/12/12 Middlesbrough 1–0 Blackburn (Championship)

15/12/12 Blackpool 2-0 Blackburn (Championship)

7/12/12 Blackburn 1-4 Cardiff (Championship)

2/12/12 Burnley 1-1 Blackburn (Championship)

28/11/12 Blackburn 1-2 Bolton (Championship)

24/11/12 Blackburn 0-2 Millwall (Championship)

W: 0 D: 1 L: 5 F: 3 A: 12 GD: -9 Points: 1

Interesting Stats:

Back in September an away trip to Blackburn was followed by a visit to Birmingham. Now a home meeting with Brum is followed by a visit from Rovers.

 

This is the first league meeting between the two sides at Oakwell for 12 years.

 

Nuno Gomes’ strike in Blackburn’s 2-1 victory over The Reds three months ago was the club’s 100th goal against Barnsley.

 

 Blackburn have won twice as many Oakwell meetings as Barnsley (10 to 5) and have lost only two of the last 18 trips they have made.

 

Barnsley’s last victory was a thumping 5-1 success in January 2000. Bruce Dyer with a double, Craig Hignett, Neil Shipperley and Darren Barnard were on target for The Reds who were 4-1 up at half time.

 

Rovers, who sacked their second manager of the season yesterday by dispensing of Henning Berg are in even poorer form than Barnsley and they have not won any of their last six matches, losing five of them, including the last three.  It is over 10 years since they last lost four games on the bounce at this level.

 

The 1995 Premier League champions have won just one of their last nine matches and have not kept a clean sheet in that time.

 

Blackburn have won just twice on the road this season- the joint lowest in the Championship BUT they have also only lost two away from Ewood Park- the lowest in the division.

They are the away day draw specialists having seen seven of their away fixtures end in stalemate, the joint highest in the Football League.

 

Barnsley have now gone a massive ten home games without victory- their longest winless home run for 59 years! Back in the 1952-1953 season Tim Ward’s side finished that campaign without winning any of their final 11 home matches, something that was punctured by a FA Cup home victory over Brighton.

 

They have managed just nine league goals at Oakwell this season, the lowest in the division. Only they, Hartlepool and Aldershot are still in single figures in home goals scored in the Football League.

 

The Reds have won just five games home or away all season, along with bottom placed Bristol City, it is the lowest in the Championship. The last time they only had this amount of victories at this stage of a season was the Premier League season. Even when they were last relegated from this division in 2002 they had six wins by now and had one more point than they do now after 24 games.

 

The Reds have also gone 13 matches since they last kept a clean sheet, their longest run for exactly 12 months when they went 14 without a shut out from 26th November 2011 to the 18th February 2012.

 

It has been a pretty awful 2012 for Barnsley, and prior to tomorrow’s final game of the calendar year they have tasted victory just nine times.

Blackburn have not lost the final game of a calendar year for 11 years, whilst Barnsley have only lost one of the last five.

On This Day:

Barnsley:

Played: 15, Won 6, Drawn 5, Lost 4, Scored 18, Conceded 26.

Last match on the 29th December: 2007. Barnsley (Togwell, Campbell-Ryce) 2-2 Southampton. ATT: 10,425.

Last win: 1990

Last draw: 2007

Last defeat: 2000

STAT! – Barnsley have not won on this date for 22 years (three games) and have won only one of the last six.

Blackburn:

Played: 17, Won: 8 Drawn: 3 Lost: 6 Scored: 25 Conceded: 23.

Last match on the 29th December: 2001. Blackburn 0-1 Derby. ATT: 23,529.

Last win: 1993

Last draw: 1982

Last defeat: 2001

STAT! – Blackburn have won just one of the last seven games on this date and have lost four of the last seven.

Mad Sites:

www.barnsley-mad.co.uk

www.blackburnrovers-mad.co.uk

Official Sites:

www.barnsleyfc.co.uk

www.rovers.co.uk

Other Fixtures:

Saturday 29th December 2012:

12:30pm:

Huddersfield v Sheffield Wednesday

Hull v Leeds

3pm:

Bolton v Birmingham

Bristol City v Peterborough

Burnley v Leicester

Cardiff v Millwall

Charlton v Derby

Middlesbrough v Blackpool

Nottingham Forest v Crystal Palace

Wolves v Ipswich

5:20pm:

Brighton v Watford

Source: TykesMAD

Source: FOOTYMAD