2010-11 Match Report CCFC v BARNSLEY

13.3.2011

CCFC 2 v 2 BARNSLEY

How best to break it to you? I could sugar the bitter pill with talk of Whitt’s wonder goal; I might wax lyrical with righteous indignation about how Bellamy was cruelly denied a cast-iron penalty; I could recount the many near misses; how we had to regroup after Chopra pulled a hamstring and to reflect that this will allow Jones to shuffle the pack like he did when Chops was out for a long spell earlier in the season prior to our October surge; I could chivvy you up with platitudes about still being ‘in the hunt’ how ‘it’s still up for grabs’ if we can make ‘one final push’. But that would be masking a stark truth best summed up with a regretful, resigned and rueful request to just ‘forget it!’

It’s over. The Fat Lady has sung, she’s left the building and is even now relaxing in an easy chair soothing her strained vocal chords with a warm mug of Horlicks, basking in the comforting glow of the dying embers of our Premier League ambition, casually flicking the remote in search of something comfortingly nostalgic on Dave.

This was surely our last opportunity to take advantage of yet more slip-ups from those clustered around us. To lack of consistency you can now add injury, worrying lack of form, a general malaise and a debilitating lack of self-belief. You could sense the negativity on the pitch and in the crowd.

The minutes before Whittingham’s bolt from the blue provided surely the dullest spectacle witnessed in the new stadium. To misquote Del Amitri ‘Nothing ever happened. Nothing happened at all. The Martians could have landed in the dug-out and no-one would have cared'. The goal would have sparked a confident set of players at the top of their game into action and provided the platform for a comfortable win. Instead, within minutes Barnsley drew level. And then it was back to the tumbleweed...

With 15 minutes to go and following the sad spectacle of a loud ironic cheer at the departure of the England centre forward formerly recognisable as Jay Bothroyd and the introduction of comedy centre forward Jon ‘The Beast’ Parkin we at last developed a sense of urgency , stepped up the pace and took the game to the opposition. The sustained pressure culminated in a deserved first goal for Dekel Keinan who popped up at the far post to thunder a header past Luke Steele. 2-1 with a few minutes left on the clock. Game over? Nah.

A Barnsley substitution seemed to distract the City defence as Butterfield stripped off, strode over to the ball and planted a perfect cross behind a static back four for Gray to score his second of the afternoon. 2-2. No less than The Tykes deserved.

In his post-match interview Jones has spoken of the ‘fear factor’ of ‘switching off at vital times’ but how we all ‘must stick together’. After all, we’re still in the hunt and it’s still up for grabs if we can make one final push. Nah. Forget it.