Adam Reach sent the Imps’ promotion hopes into orbit with a rocket that lit up a chilly evening at Oakwell.
Yeah, I just lay in bed working that intro before I got up. No ChatGPT, that’s all raw talent right there.
However, there was something else about last night’s game that should be remembered. It will be the moment Reach struck what can only be described as a thunderbastard past Murphy Cooper that stands out in supporters’ memories, but for me, only an analogy can really sum it up.
Have you ever watched a small glass of Coca-Cola do its magic on a two-pence piece? You drop it in and over time, the two-pence is ground down, suffocated and cleansed. You can’t quite see what is happening, but by George, it is effective. It’s functional, it’s relentless, and at the end of the process, the two-pence is removed and looked at in wonderment. That’s us, and that’s last night, only moments before the two-pence emerged, someone called Adam dropped a Mentos in for a laugh.
City made three changes from the side that won on Boxing Day. Tom Bayliss is still awaiting a scan on the ankle injury picked up at Edgeley Park, which meant a first away league start for Ivan Varfolomeev. Michael Skubala also showed the depth of his squad over the relentless festive schedule by bringing in Dom Jefferies and Justin Obikwu for Reeco Hackett and Freddie Draper.
As is customary now, the Imps began with real intent. Jack Moylan was immediately involved, seeing a shot blocked inside six minutes before drawing a foul from Reyes Cleary shortly afterwards. Adam Reach shaped to take the free-kick, as expected, but instead Varfolomeev delivered a fantastic ball towards the far post. Tom Hamer timed his run perfectly, rose above his marker and powered a header beyond the goalkeeper to give City a deserved, and not unusual, early lead.
The first goal was always key. Go ahead in a big ground in front of disaffected fans, and the atmosphere becomes tough for them. If they bagged first, it turns. Any moment can turn the crowd, as we saw at Blackpool, but it doesn’t hurt to give the natives something to get restless at, and we did that nice and early.
It was a confident start from City, who continued to control possession and territory. Reach almost released Obikwu moments later, but the final pass carried just a little too much weight. Barnsley briefly thought they had an equaliser after 21 minutes when Davis Keillor-Dunn found the net, but play had already been halted, the assistant’s flag raised against Cleary in the build-up.
Our commitment was clear throughout, perhaps best illustrated after 24 minutes when Tendayi Darikwa threw himself in front of Patrick Kelly to block a goal-bound effort. From Sonny Bradley’s clearance that followed, City broke quickly, Moylan showing good awareness to win a corner. Varfolomeev’s delivery caused problems, with Rob Street flicking a header narrowly over.
When I say ‘clearance’, it was quite controversial. The home side did have a huge penalty shout turned down, and after weeks of complaining about decisions going against us, this one went in our favour. In that moment, the ball caught Bradley on the arm, no question. It wasn’t by his side, and rightly, Barnsley protested. The one thing I wouldn’t like, as a Tykes fan, was one of their lads, Keillor-Dunn, I think, not a metre from the ball, focusing purely on the protest when he could have tried winning the ball.
After that, Barnsley were largely restricted to efforts from range. Hamer was in the thick of things, doing what he does, no-nonsense blocks and clearances. Just before the break, City came close to doubling their advantage. Moylan won the ball high up the pitch, Obikwu danced past several challenges, even if I’m not sure that he knew much about it, and eventually fed Reach, whose low snapshot was pushed wide by the goalkeeper.
Two things. Firstly, Justin Obikwu is basically Ollie Palmer v2, a man who definitely has quality and attributes but probably doesn’t know how to use them. I picture him like a guy just finding out about his superpowers, occasionally saving the world by accident, occasionally obliterating a field full of sheep with an unexpected eye laser. At times, he’s clumsy; at others, he has the grace of a swan.
Secondly, as the first half drew to a close, I can’t say we’d been brilliant with the ball. We’d been good, top ten material without a doubt, but top two? Were we cutting through at ease, making them look average? No. We were making them look average when we didn’t have the ball.
We just have this fluidity, this natural movement that blocks the opposition. It’s the opposite of artistry in football, it’s the science. If teams like Huddersfield think they’re Da Vinci with their 5-0 wins and their pretty football, we’re Einstein. We understand how it works. We’re the blackboard covered in fractions, algebra and decimals, intriguing to look at, and just getting things right.
You can stick your paintbrushes where the sun doesn’t shine. We’re here for the functionality, and if we carry on, we’re going to get to do it at Molineux.
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