After Saturday's lacklustre display against Palace the journey to Barnsley was not one to be made with great confidence especially after being informed it was 62 years since we last won at Oakwell.
Thankfully after an early start on the outward trip I arrived early enough to be fan number nine in the away end – thankfully another 1000 or so joined me by kick-off time and the vocal support for our boys was good.
Pre-match
Being a Yorkshireman it's always a pleasure for me to revisit the county of my birth and an added bonus is that I can understand the catering staff, even if they can't understand me...........which they couldn't!
A surreal start to the build-up was initiated by an Albion fan walking past me who was a dead-ringer for Jose Mourinho! I was later to spot both a Sven lookalike and Sam Allardyce's double, and before anyone asks, I'd only drunk the coffee and nothing stronger.
The players came out to warm up and ‘Big Dave’ received a rightfully strong round of applause along with the necessary chant........good to see the big fella in such fine shape still.
Another surreal moment in the warm-up came during the playing of the record by Duffy – I think it's called "stepping stone". Albion’s warm up routine of waving arms in a circle and gyrating the body fitted the music perfectly whilst Barnsley looked totally out of sync to it. Was this a good omen I asked myself?
The warm-up also featured a 100% catching success rate for Scott Carson as well as a long rang effort from Mulumbu that brought a smile to his face which lit up the ground. The omens were good: the boys were up for it tonight!
Team selection was not unexpected with Brunt returning to the side. My only concern was this irrational modern trait of playing players on their wrong foot on either wing. It certainly doesn't help our forwards when crosses are not being pulled back from the byline and Koren looks uncomfortable on the left although he worked hard as always.
Overall though team selection didn't seem to be causing the fans much pre-match concern although some doubted the wisdom of Bednar and Wood playing together because of similarity, and possibly a start for Cox might have been in order.
The game kicked off under floodlights that were no more powerful than a harvest moon. It soon became apparent that Albion were also to be operating at a poor power output. A sluggish start by us, littered with misplaced passes and poor hold-up play by Bednar and Wood meant we were on the back foot almost immediately.
Mattock started the game quite well with a couple of decent passes but was caught in a woefully bad position for Barnsley's first goal. This lead to the cross coming in which was eventually skilfully converted at the back post by Hamill after chaotic scenes at the centre of our defence as we tried to block initial attempts on goal.
The writing was on the wall.
Not much in the way of response from Albion but Dickinson of Barnsley (on loan from Stoke !) was lucky to stay on the pitch after a terrible tackle on Bednar. A ‘home decision’ from the referee in my opinion – an away player would have walked.
Just prior to this Mulumbu had suffered an injury during a bad tackle and this seemed to play on his mind as he gave another sub-standard performance following his very good start to the season.
Goal number two arrived. Once again Mattock was culpable allowing space in behind him which allowed a cross which was headed by Macken and looked to have crossed the line before Carson made a good clawing save to drag back. The penalty actually came as a relief to many of us who feared the goal would be given. Hume dispatched the penalty with Carson well beaten.
Albion's only real response was a fine effort from the edge of the box by Dorrans saved in acrobatic fashion by their keeper. Apart from that there was little to report.
Barnsley had played with no little skill and plenty of pace and conviction. They deserved their lead. Albion also deserved the howls of derision they received at the half-time whistle.
Up to this point the away support had remained solid and supporting of the team, but as the player's trooped off and walked right past us, they received both barrels from a majority of the fans. Zuiverloon and Mattock being the main whipping boys with Martis also getting a few mentions!
Fair play to Jonas Olsson who nodded apologetically at the fans; we knew that he knew that it was an unacceptable showing from Albion.
Second half
Mulumbu was replaced by Jara which proved a good move as he played well in my opinion looking busy and showing good technique and a desire to get us playing at a higher tempo.
Dorrans also worked hard but our width seemed to suffer with Koren coming much narrower and we had to rely on a subdued Brunt for any hope of width. Brunt was also getting ‘dogs abuse’ from the locals due to his connections with Sheffield Wednesday and possibly this got to him a little.
Our dominance of possession in the second-half was not matched by a high ratio of chances. Most of our play was condensed into the area outside Barnsley's box as they defended with tenacity and bravery when necessary with ‘Big Dave’ a dominating presence for the hosts.
A free-kick from Brunt from 25 yards (which was dangerously close to my seat); a far post header from Bednar which was brilliantly blocked just off the line; and a poor headed attempt from Cox after he replaced young Wood was the best we could muster until Brunt's fine strike finally got us a goal.
At this point I'll hold up my hands and admit I saw Brunt's goal from the comfort of my own front room. I'd had enough after 80 or so minutes. I was almost killed in the crush to escape the scene of the crime as plenty of others decided like myself that enough was enough!
My apologies to anyone who feels this was an unprofessional action from the designated match reporter but I hope you will forgive me on this occasion.
In Summary
A poor performance from an Albion side devoid of the work rate, passion and sheer mental strength needed to cope in most Championship matches.
In my opinion, Di Matteo could not really be faulted on the grounds of team selection other than the possible mistake of Koren and Brunt playing on their wrong side and perhaps a start for Cox – although he's done little to earn that call.
Zuiverloon and Mattock are a liability in defensive duties and Mattock offers little as an attacking or overlapping threat. Martis worked manfully again but effort alone is not enough and he is constantly exposed by decent forward movement. Carson fails to command his box or his defenders and is not a captain; Olsson should be given the job immediately.
I've felt all season that we've been in a slightly false position and chickens now seem to be coming home to roost. We are seriously lacking a true goalscorer.
It's not all doom and gloom yet though and I just hope that on Saturday the players actually turn up at Preston and get us the three points to put us back on track.
Well played Barnsley and Darren Moore you deserved your victory.