Tykes Lackluster in Lancashire

The Reds were to complete their trio of Lancashire away days on Saturday, and a trip to Sunny Morecambe was the reward for all 1,700 fans who attended. The Shrimps sit at the foot of the table, and were the only side in the 92 still waiting for that first home win. So, with that being said, Barnsley (on paper) have the easiest fixture of the weekend. The team-sheet showed a changed XI. Devante Cole was playing up-front by himself, Adam Phillips and Josh Martin were starting their first league games for the Reds, with Phillips playing a sporadic winger position.

The Reds started well in the first 20 minutes; Martin put in an excellent ball that eventually arrived at the feet of Nicky Cadden who forced an impressive save from Conor Ripley. This is where the wheels fell off. Morecambe made it a battle, and exposed the soft centre of Barnsley’s spine. Morecambe asked questions of Barnsley's mentality with a lot of aerial duels and hard tackles, and Barnsley crumbled spectacularly. Morecambe launched a long throw into the box, after some weak defending, Mads Andersen misjudged the ball and it gave Kieran James Phillips with only Brad Collins to beat from 5 yards out. He poked it to the right of Collins and Morecambe took a shock lead on 40 minutes. HALF-TIME MORECAMBE 1-0 BARNSLEY Frustrated shouting and boos greeted the players as the half-time whistle was blown. Not only were Barnsley weak, they could not show the quality to outplay Morecambe. Simple passes were being overhit, nobody wanted to shoot and the crossing was poor. Barnsley could not get out of their own half, due to their own poor passes, poor movement, and inability to break down Morecambe. Michael Duff had to say something strong at half-time, there was absolutely no fight in that first half. The second half started brightly, Herbie Kane came on for Luca Connell and everybody looked more alive. Josh Benson had a fizzing shot that just missed the bottom left-hand corner. The fans were appreciative of the injection of determination to win and instantly got behind their team. Unfortunately, this was not to be sustained. Morecambe once again asked questions of the Reds and Barnsley had no answers, despite having most of the ball and were in good field positions for most of the game, they could not carve out a single chance vs the side at the bottom of the league. Michael Duff turned to his substitutes, and put his trust within Jack Aitchison and Fabio Jalo to turn the tides on the Lancashire seaside. Josh Martin was poor, and Jack Aitchison excelled in the role that Martin was trying to play. Jalo could not add much, and I was confused as to why Slobodan Tedic was not brought on, given the Shrimp’s physicality.

FULL-TIME MORECAMBE 1-0 BARNSLEY Once again, boos and frustrated jeers over-rode the few who were applauding. Barnsley were dreadful, and weeks of poor performances were exposed. We have not played well since Charlton, and Michael Duff must take a fraction of the blame. The team selection was wrong, the game-plan did not work and we had no plan B to resort to. The players showed a lot more fight in the second half, but produced no quality. We must dust ourselves down, and aim to get out of this rough patch before it lingers. Lincoln City travel to South Yorkshire on Tuesday night, can we forget the humiliation of Morecambe and put things right?