The tale of two halves on a bitter and blustery day at Oakwell, but saints showed guts and determination to get a third draw on the road in a row.
Saints fell behind before even a player in yellow has touched the ball, Barnsley kicked off and played the ball to Campbell Ryce, he pegged it down the right side and delivered a ball which was taken by the wind, it then fell to former saints trainee Howard who headed back to Togwell, he shinned the ball and a freak gust took the ball into the top corner after just 16 seconds of play. Saints behind and facing the worst of the conditions.
Stern John couldn’t put Rasiak through thanks to a fine defensive interception which would have seen Rasiak through with only the keeper to beat, moments later Thomas had to make a fine defensive block.
Playing controlled football was hard to saints in the conditions but nevertheless the yellows still took the game to the Tykes, Surmans looked dangerous from midfield and Barnsley struggled to keep up with his slick passing and movement when saints got the ball, when Barnsley had the ball they just had one thing in mind, hoof it up the front.
But that didn’t matter as the Tykes doubled the lead on 33 minutes, CAMPBELL RYCE was shown inside and scored a great shot from 25 yards which left keeper Kelvin Davis no chance.
Hammill tried to cut the lead right after the kick off, his shot drifted just wide of the post, then Odejayi could of put the game behind all doubt but his shot went wide.
Surman and Hammill linked up just after that, with Surman testing Muller in the Barnsley goal with a skidding shot which was pushed round the post by the highly rated keeper who has been linked with a January move away from Oakwell.
HALF TIME BARNSLEY 2 SOUTHAMPTON 0
Saints made a change Ifil came on for Powell and Thomas moved into the middle of the defence.
Saints started to dominate and Burley made 2 key subs, Bradley Wright-Phillips was brought on for Stern John and Adam Lallana for Adam Hammill with half an hour left to play.
The subs paid off after just one minute, BRADLEY WRIGHT-PHILLIPS was put through by Rasiak and he slotted past the keeper.
Saints then looked in controll and got back level on 70 minutes. Wright played a ball to Rasiak who slid the ball to Lallana who miss-kicked to BRADLEYY WRIGHT-PHILLIPS who scored from 10 yards.
Saints had other chances to win the game but luck wasn’t with the away side again. Bennett had a shot deflected onto the top of the net and Rasiak shot wide. Safri’s corner almost found Lallana but it was deflected clear.
In the dying seconds a flowing move involving Euell who played through Bradley Wright-Phillips, he found Rasiak who had a shot saved by the legs on Muller and his follow up shot was cleared off the line by a defender.
Saints deserved to win but were punished for giving the Tykes a 2 goal advantage early on.
Player Ratings
Kelvin Davis 7
He played well when needed, couldn’t got anything about the goals.
Wayne Thomas 7
Much better second half when he was back in the middle.
Alan Bennett 7
Almost scored and held his own in the middle of the park.
Darren Powell 6
Took off at half time as he steps up his road back to fitness.
Jermaine Wright 7
Out of position and struggled against Campbell Ryce.
Adam Hammill 7
Looked ok for saints, was withdrawn after an hour.
Youssef Safri 7
His passing was good in tough conditions.
Andrew Surman 8
Played well in the middle and linked up with the top 2 well.
Jason Euell 7
Linked up from the left at times but nothing special.
Grzegorz Rasiak 8
Had chances and could have scored. Deserved his recall
Stern John 6
Struggled on a heavy pitch.
Phil Ifil 7
Replaced Darren Powell at Half time
Looked good down the right hand side and is now back off to Spurs.
Adam Lallana 8
Replaced Adam Hammill on 60 Minutes
Got involved and the youngstar was very influentual on proceedings.
Scored twice in half an hour. A great sub by manager George Burley!