Barnsley Preview

Tactics?
By Nick Richardson
November 5 2005

The Quakers face a tough trip to League 1 side Barnsley today in the FA Cup First Round and Darlo fans are confident it'll be another first round exit for their beloved club.

BARNSLEY Vs. Darlington- Sat 5 Nov. 2005

FA Cup First Round

Venue: Oakwell

The Quakers face a tough trip to League 1 side Barnsley today in the FA Cup First Round and Darlo fans are confident it'll be another first round exit for their beloved club.

Let's face it, Darlo's cup form over the last 2/3/4 seasons has been pretty shocking, crashing out of first rounds all over the place, most notably at the hands of Farnborough and Hornchurch, who, in all due to respect to their fans and players, we should have beaten easily.

This season, The Quakers have continued this dismal trend by falling at the first hurdles of both the League Cup (Hartlepool) and the LDV Vans Trophy (Kidderminster Harriers) and there's every reason to suggest the pattern will continue tomorrow...

...orrrrrrrr is there?

Their boss has just received the dreaded Manager of the Month award for October- an award which supposedly brings the recieving manager's club bad luck in its following matches. Now if anyone else was playing Barnsley tomorrow I'd give 'em a pretty good chance of giving the Tykes a good run for their money, but, as it's Darlo, I think I'll reserve judgement.

To be fair though, Darlo are often in their element against higher level opposition; a trend most noticeable last season in the league, achieving good results against the likes of Southend (4-0!), Swansea and Yeovil but going out and losing to the likes of Shrewsbury, Kidderminster and Cambridge, which also highlights our inconsistency. We have been consistently inconsistent for years. So much so I now have the analogy 'New players, same old Darlo' embedded in my mind.

Anyway, on to the game itself. Darlo will be looking to build on an underserved defeat at the hands of Wrexham on Saturday and go into this game looking for the win. I know for a fact the fans won't care if we lose as long as the players put the effort in; something which may have been slightly lacking on previous occasions. The main worry that seems to be circulating around the Darlo fans are the tactical selections of manager, David Hodgson. You never quite know what to get with old Hodgy, let's hope he's sensible for this one and we can give this tie a really good go.

My Prediction: 3-1 Barnsley. Darlo to take the lead early on but crumble later on in the game.

Anyway, I've rabbled on far too long for my own good, it's heading towards 2am and I can barely see my computer monitor. See y'all at Oakwell.

 

GET BEHIND THE LADS, COME ON DARLO!