Saints are still undefeated after three matches and hopefully Saints will be able to get three points on the road today against Barnsley who happen to be one spot and point ahead of us.
Saints starting line-up is as follows: Davis Ostlund-Baird-Pele-Bale Surman-Wright-Viafara-Dyer Rasiak-BWP Subs: Jones, Lallana, Skacel, Makin, Miller (GK)
Burley giving Surman the start over Skacel who is still getting back into match fitness. Youth player Lallana gets his name on the first team sheet for the first time. Our new signing from Reading, veteran defender, Chris Makin, is starting on the bench, and Miller is back from injury to be the backup keeper.
Match so far has been lively and up-and-down the wet pitch. Saints with a couple of close chances from Rasiak and BWP while Barnsley have had a couple of close chances as well. Still 0-0 after about 20' minutes.
Devaney and McIndoe are causing real problems. McIndoe forces a terrific save from Davis at the near post from a good cross from Devaney.
DDDDDAAAAAMMMMMNNNNNN!!!!! Barnsley scores with just seconds left in the first half. Richards with the goal. Barnsley 1 Saints 0 HT
F**K. Even though the match has been up-and-down with chances for both sides, Saints have really stunk it up again in the first half by allowing Barnsley to score deep into injury time and control the match for large portions of the match. Saints are not adapting as well to the wet conditions as Barnsley is. Hopefully this goal is a wake up call for us and we play a much stronger half against a team which we should really be dominating. Fair play to Bansley for playing out of their mind for 45 minutes.
YYYYYEEEEESSSSS!!!! Rasiak levels things for Saints two minutes into the second half. Barnsley 1 Saints 1
Well after Saints domination for the first five minutes of the second half, Barnsley have fought back to put pressure on Saints.
BWP with another excellent chance which is well saved by the Barnsley keeper. Unfortunately the ball rebounded off BWP for a goal kick.
FFFFUUUU****KKKK!!!! Penalty for Barnsley. Ball bounces up and into Ostlunds arm. Barnsley's announcers cannot believe that it was actually called a PK. Heyes with the spot kick and goal for Barnsley. Barnsley 2 Saints 1
Well I can't believe this one. The ref has actually called a PK for Saints after Skacel puts a shot that hits the arm of one of the Barnsley defenders. Rasiak with the PK and scores. Two goals in two minutes. Barnsley 2 Saints 2
Skacel is fouled just outside the box. Saints freekick from about 20 yards out. Wright with the kick but he puts it right into the wall. Really should have been Skacel in my opinon.
Jones on for BWP in the 82' minute. Reasonablely good match for Wright-Philips with several good chances which he unfortunately could not convert.
Barnsley wanting a PK called for what they thought was a foul by Davis on their striker on a one-on-one situation but ref is waiving them off.
Saints are pushing for the winner in injury time, but so far to no avail. Three minutes of extra time.
Barnsley 2 Saints 2 FT Barnsley played out of their mind today and Saints, of course, played down to their competition for the most part. Thankfully the refs questionable PK decisions did not penalize both teams too badly. Saints really need to get their first half performances sorted out before too long. We can't keep on relying on strong second half performances to pull us through. This was really a good opportunity for us to get three full points but we let two more points go as a result of this draw. Saints have now fallen down to 11th place. A win would have put us up to 4th or 5th. Oh well.