The Introduction
The 6 - 0 win over the same opponents on 13 April 2013 was in some senses the high tide of the last regime and management. That game ended with us 9th in the league, our eventual finishing position. That it was only a year and two days ago only reinforces the truth that time and tide stop for no one and if you don't keep moving forward you soon start moving back.
The Opposition
The 6 - 0 defeat left Barnsley 22nd. They saved themselves on the last day for the season. Having dodged relegation nearly every season for the past 6 years this team knows all about staying up so write them off at your peril. That they have done this on one of the smallest incomes in the division is even more impressive. Barnsley have spent more seasons at the second level of English football than any other team. They have played over 3,000 times at the second level or 76 seasons compared to just 31 in the other three divisions.
Barnsley lost their Boris Johnson look-a-like and talisman, David Perkins to Blackpool in January so the player to watch is former Sheffield Wednesday striker Chris O'Grady. The archetypal lower league journeyman striker, he knows where the net is and makes a nuisance of himself. His missed penalty potentially cost Barnsley a point on Saturday at Bolton but he is already on 13 goals for the season.
Recent wins at Reading and Yeovil show that, despite dropping to the bottom of the table on goal difference, this is a team that can win away.
They will just as aware as the Addicks that this is their game in hand and so a chance to jump to just one point behind Millwall and two behind Charlton
The Line Up
The most surprising, and welcome, return since Bobby Ewing came out of the shower saw Christopher James Solly once again pull on a first team shirt at the Amex. Yet another flat performance and 3 - 0 defeat at a play-off team means that it will be hugely tempting to start Solly. How match fit and how match ready he is we can't tell but the balance that Chris brings to the right side of the pitch will be very very welcome.
Otherwise the unknown will again be how Jose Riga shuffles his strikers and playmakers. Astrit Ajdarević was given the hook at half time at the Amex. Was that to save him for Tuesday or just that he was having no impact? Both Petrucci and Obika missed out on even the 18 man squad on the south coast. Again, rested or just dropped. The U21 game today will perhaps tell us more.
Preview Towers expects a conventional 4-4-2
Hamer
Solly Morrison Dervite Wiggins
Wilson Cousins Poyet Jackson
Obika Reza
The Prediction
Forget the days of the week, the variation in results is down to the quality of the opponents not the calendar. 2 - 1 to some very nervy Addicks
The Quiz
There were six different scorers in that game at Barnsley. Can you name them all?
0
Comments
1-0 tomorrow night
Fairly sure Barnsley had a few years in the third tier about 10 years ago?
0-2 defeat pass me the razor blades
Hopefully Solly starts and Wilson is pushed up to right wing. Last chance for Barnsley so I expect them to be up for it.
As for the other sides I don't know where Blackpool are going to get another point from and Doncaster's run in looks the hardest. I'd still say us and Millwall to both survive. Yeovil and Blackpool down plus one from Barnsley and Doncaster.
I just hope we can do it but feel less positive than I did before Yeovil.
I agree. We may only need 3/4 more points but I think there will be a few more unexpected results meaning we'll probably need a few more than that.
On the line up I'd rather see us find room for AA somewhere as well as Solly back in the side (if he's ready). I thought he was one of the better players on Saturday and taken off to save him for tomorrow.
I'd still also say Sordell is the best striker we have at holding up the ball.
Win - Barnsley are gone and we are 3/4 points from safety
Draw - squeaky bum time and makes Bolton a must win
Lose - Barnsley are back in it, confidence shot and I think could lead to the drop
Wouldn't it be nice if once, just once we raced into a 3 goal lead before half time and actually enjoyed a match
Think we'll win this with a clean sheet.
Fixed for you Henry. :-)
Reza
Obika
Wilson
O'Grady
My main worry (second only to us being so inept up front) is that we are beginning to look completely knackered.
Horrible feeling we might have run out of puff and that's about all we've got.
1-1