Barnsley v Southend United – Preview

Whilst Steve Tilson's men could still win promotion from the league with a win tomorrow, it wouldn't be confirmed until Tuesday evening as Huddersfield

Tilly will need to lift his troops

However, the omens are good for Southend. Firstly, Blackpool showed they won't stop battling until safety from relegation is confirmed – they beat Swansea City at home, and despite having not won in five away games, close encounters with the league leaders at Roots Hall and play-off pushing Oldham at Boundry Park in recent weeks show that Blackpool will certainly make a Brentford side with a number of ageing players work hard for victory.

Meanwhile, Tranmere are no fools themselves. In fact, the club in the shadow of rivals Liverpool and Everton are more than a reasonable proposition on the road, having won five, drawn seven and lost nine of their away games this season. Of course if the side that includes Jason McAteer in their midfield can force their eighth away point of the season, it may be a successful day for Tilly's travelling army of supporters.

But whilst this is all well and good if Southend can take all three points away from Oakwell they must do it first, and Andy Ritchie will certainly not want to blow his sides chances of a play-off spot with a defeat tomorrow. The Tykes won 3-0 away at Oldham on Saturday, a result that rarely crops up at Boundary Park and one that Andy Ritchie was clearly delighted with. The Barnsley boss stated: “It's a massive result. We changed things round at half time and the lads did well because we don't normally do that, but everyone played their part and it turned out to be the right decision.

It was vital to win and also pleasing to keep a well-deserved clean sheet. We haven't had the results we have deserved recently and the players were really buzzing in the dressing room.”

However, whilst Barnsley have been persistently dominant this season, losing just once at home and conceding just forty goals, recently they have hit a miserable patch of form which has seen them win just once in eight games – that win coming at the weekend. However it hasn't been a losing run – in the last five Barnsley have lost just once, but regular draws aren't good enough when you're at the top and the Tykes, who include former Seasiders striker Barry Conlon on their books, have paid the price.

For not so long ago Ritchie's men were challenging for the second automatic promotion place, however dropped points at home to teams near the bottom such as Chesterfield and Bournemouth have taken the shine off of hard earned results against promotion rivals Swansea and Colchester. In fact, Barnsley haven't recorded a win at home for three games and the away support will be longing for that to continue at least until after tomorrow.

However at least from a Barnsley perspective they will go into the game with no injuries. Midfielder Paul Reid managed the full ninety minutes against Oldham, and despite former Manchester City winger Chris Shuker picking up a slight knock, it is expected that he will be declared fit to play.

Goater will hopefully be back for Southend

Whilst Tilson will be happy to welcome back the most popular goat in football, he wasn't so appreciative of Good Friday's defeat at home to Gillingham – especially considering it was in front of a bumper 11,195 crowd, the biggest at Roots Hall for the current campaign. The 38-year-old explained to the clubs official website: “It was a disappointing result, but I felt it was a better performance from us than our last match against Blackpool. The tempo, commitment and determination were all there from the side, but we just lacked the killer instinct.” However the Blues boss was quick to point out his point's target: “Everyone keeps saying we are up, but we are not up at the moment and still have four matches to play for. But I believe we are still six points away from promotion.”

Steve Tilson will know however, that his side may not need to take six points from their remaining fixtures to gain promotion, and come Tuesday night it is even mathematically possible for the Shrimpers to be named as champions of the Coca-Cola Football League One. It may be farfetched, afterall Brentford must lose at home and Colchester and Huddersfield also have to drop two points on their own turf, but as the old saying goes: “Anything can happen in football”.

Adam Duffill
www.thelittlegazette.com