Barnsley 0-0 Palace, Couldn’t score in a brothel!

Well, that was domination. I mean really, we’ve had 18 shots and Palace have had 6. They only had 2 clear cut chances, both of which were expertly dealt with by a resurgent David Preece. No, neither he nor his defence were the problem, and even Colace and Doyle were solid. Our build up play was excellent, and individuals did some great things. Then, as soon as we reached the box, it all fell apart.

Unsurprisingly the team reverted to that which played against Blackpool (Hammill, Teixiera, Macken, Bogdanovic). It was the right tactics, and Paul Hart never Had a proper answer. By the last 10 minutes they had as much tactical interest in scoring as I have interest in the Eurovision Song Contest.

It was a bright start all around, but in particular Hammill came bursting out of the blocks. He ripped Danny Butterfield apart in the first half, and managed to produce a wonder shot, turning first time around a throw in and forcing Speroni to tip his half volley over the bar from 30 yards.

And this was the vein it continued in. Hammill faded out and in, and Teixiera asserted his usual dominance and skill. I thought both forwards tried hard and played well, and palace only Had a handful of chances. They never had any real pressure. Despite this, some of their attacks were seriously dangerous, and Alan Lee produced some great headers. I can’t see a team with that much class in it going down.

At half time, you could just hear the words murmuring around the concourse; “How are we not winning?”. The answer was simple, the finishing had been on a par with Mario Gomes circa Euro 2008. Hammill had done some great stuff, then totally screwed it up, either with  a bad shot or by not passing it. Bogdanovic had missed two one-on-ones, and most other players had had good shooting opportunities. But no-one had scored.

But we’d been so dominant that there was nothing that wanted changing. Unfortunately, something had to be changed. Carl Dickinson had taken studs in his knee. With suspected ligament damage, he is highly doubtful for Tuesday. However, Potter came on and did great, didn’t hinder our play at all.

Soon after half time, normal service resumed. Hammill was doing good stuff, but then something that was either a total failure or totally stupid. Tex was playing well, as was Macken.

Surely, we couldn’t just start missing again? Oh yes, we could. Every attacker had good chance. Standouts include a good Shotton header, several fluffed shots/crosses from Hammill and, most especially, Teixeira receiving an open goal and slicing the ball closer to the West Stand than the goal.

As in the first half, Palace had some good attacking play, but their midfield was pushed around by Colace and Doyle. Preece wasn’t properly tested. It wasn’t a thrilling game, but that’s only because of the deceptive 0-0 scoreline. Robins estimated we could have had ’4 0r 5′. The soldiers sitting near me counted to 11, and I think they’re a lot closer to the truth.

A lot of people have attacked how we played, but I won’t. It was a fine performance, especially in defence. This is what’s most important. Even the attackers did do well, and they did try very hard. So, everyone missed, and that was hugely frustrating. Question is, do you think this was just an off day up front, or are we just bad at finishing.

Adam Hammill in particular has come in for a lot of stick, and I don’t understand it. Some are saying he’s past his peak (at 22!) or that he doesn’t care. Not true, and I don’t even think he was bad yesterday. The Scouse winger ran the defence ragged. In the box his shooting was awful, and his decision making was amateur. But don’t underestimate how many of the attacks he messed up had been created by his brilliant dribbling. He needs to learn from his mistakes more; if a trick doesn’t work once, don’t do it twice; and he needs to look up for a short pass more, even when he gets into shooting range. But don’t knock the lad just yet, he did enough yesterday to keep his place for me.

As for Palace, I thought they had a really good team. Hart did his job, and I think the man will keep them up, although I wouldn’t be too surprised if he failed. Administration is always hard, but Palace are weathering it well for now. The fans have a chance of keeping their club where it deserves to be.

I’ve talked a lot about our bad finishing, but it’s not all that. As well as average shots, Julian Speroni was epic yesterday. Seriously, it was the best any ‘keeper had played against us this season, and that includes Westwood at Coventry. The Palace point has his name written on it.

Ratings

Preece; 7 – I’m relieved.

Hassell: MOTM 9

Foster: 7

Shotton: 8

Dicko: 7

Sub Potter: 7 – That pass…it went 6 miles across Barnsley, and hit Hammill on his right foot.

Colace: 8

Doyle: 7 – Went off with a blind spot in his eyes. Another doubt for Forest.

Hammill: 7 – See above.

Teixeira: 7 – Skillful, and a different class. But will he ever score.

Macken: 8

Bogdanovic: 6 – Never does anything but score, and on this day…

So, this was a good performance that was lacking of that final edge. We rarely draw, but this one could be symbolic. Hard to tell now, but we might look back on this day and say it was the day our season and if it is, I’m happy.

Forest on Tuesday night, and I’m looking forwards to this one. It could be a great game. Congratulations to Ryan Arnold for being the only person to correctly predict a 0-0 draw. If you haven’t enter the Prediction League yet, check out this post to enter for Tuesday night. If you did predict this game, thanks for the great response. Expect an email later tonight.