The Tykes entertained bottom of the table
Middlesbrough in early December sitting in 3rd place in the Premiership and despite conceding a surprise early goal Angus was delighted to see his team recover with goals from
Guthrie and
Nugent to establish a half-time lead. A comfortable win was secured with late goals from
Traore and
Vukcevic to continue their impressive form. A demanding trip to Stamford Bridge was next on the agenda and
Chelsea came out on top, the 3-1 scoreline underlining their superiority on the day.
Georgiev and
Mattioli returned to the team for the trip to 4th place
Birmingham and the Italian celebrated his return with his 6th goal of the season. Unfortunately the home side ran out 3-1 winners, a harsh result on the balance of play with much credit due to the home keeper who was in brilliant form. It was blowing a gale at the Stadium of Light on Boxing Day and a rain-lashed crowd enjoyed a rip-roaring match that finally ended 3-2 in favour of Barnsley with a late goal from
Naismith condemning
Sunderland to a disappointing defeat.
They were back at Oakwell just two days later and Angus made a number of changes for the visit of
Everton as he felt that some his players needed a rest. It was a wet and miserable afternoon but at least the Barnsley faithful had the compensation of seeing their team secure another win,
Mattioli and
Nugent providing the goals in the 2-0 victory.
At the start of the season all the talk was of Barnsley facing a relegation struggle but, thus far at least, they had confounded their critics and had enjoyed an excellent first half of the season. Angus was unable to determine exactly why they were playing so well but undoubtedly his switch to a 4-4-2 formation and the deployment of two strikers was a key factor. But the turn of the year brought a downturn in their form as they suffered a 2-0 defeat to
Manchester United at Old Trafford on New Years Day and then just days later they crashed out of the FA Cup at
Hull, the 1-0 scoreline a poor reflection of the home side’s dominance.
They entertained
Bolton the next weekend in a match that turned out to be one of the most eventful of the season.
Rodriguez returned in attack for his first start since his injury back in November and the Colombian certainly made an impression as he scored all four goals in his team’s victory. It was a hard fought win as they lost right back
Pawel Golanski on 32 when he was red carded for a two-footed tackle with the score tied at 1-1. In addition to that
Alain Traore played so poorly that he was substituted minutes later and
Paul Reid would have followed had Angus another centre back available on the bench. However, having brought
Caldwell on to play at right back he did not have that option and was forced to watch impotently as his team traded goals with the visitors. Bolton’s
Daniel Sikorski must have felt like the unluckiest man on the pitch as he netted a hat trick but still ended up on the losing side.
Injuries and suspensions meant four changes for the midweek trip to
Manchester City but the resulting 3-1 defeat was nonetheless disappointing. A trip to the Emirates Stadium followed and the league leaders were too strong for Barnsley although the 1-0 defeat was far from a disgrace. The month ended with a satisfying 3-0 win at home to a struggling
Reading side with
Nugent,
Lima and
Mido providing the goals.
Some slack defending saw Barnsley travel back from
Derby as 3-2 losers in a game that they should at least have drawn but they continued to hang on to a top-five place. However with the three teams immediately behind them in the table all having games in hand that could well change over the next few weeks, especially if they continued to drop points. A 1-1 draw at home to
West Ham did not exactly inspire confidence and a 1-0 defeat at
Aston Villa was a bitter pill to swallow given that the home side played with ten men for 75 minutes.
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