Has there ever been an uglier goalscorer against us than Blackburn’s Tuesday night hero, Nuno Gomes? After a battling performance where Barnsley proved a match for one of the Championship’s title chasers, the Portuguese pensioner popped up to net a winner just five minutes from time.
It may sound bitter to condemn this former international great of being nothing more than an ugly face, but that is what many Tykes will have been thinking, as Gomes ran away in celebration at Ewood Park.
The bitterness comes not in the 2-1 loss or the late timing of Gomes’ winner, but the fact that we played so well for much of the game. This was our fifth successive away defeat, yet the game played out as though we were top of the table, not Blackburn.
Rovers, a long-lost fixture of the Champions League betting, have a midfield that played full Premier League campaigns last season, yet we dominated the centre of the pitch.
Manager, Keith Hill, bemoaned our budget after the defeat and it is clear we were never meant to challenge mega-rich Rovers on Tuesday. Hill should be proud the lads dominated for long periods and only fell short when Blackburn brought on three fresh signings that we could never attract.
Our finishing was off all game, yet former Chelsea and Southampton man, Jacob Mellis, nicked his second of the season in clinical fashion, and we looked comfortable heading into the break before £8m new signing, Jordan Rhodes, levelled for the home side.
There is no way Barnsley could spend £8m on one player, nor could we afford the wages former internationals like Gomes no doubt demand. Instead, Hill is left to eke out a squad capable of sustaining itself in a cutthroat league and was desperately close to a major scalp on Tuesday.
There are reasons to be confident this season for Tykes fans, and although watching Gomes’ face crack with delight was a bitter pill to swallow, we can take solace in our ability to hold our own against one of the Championship’s strongest sides.
It may sound bitter to condemn this former international great of being nothing more than an ugly face, but that is what many Tykes will have been thinking, as Gomes ran away in celebration at Ewood Park.
The bitterness comes not in the 2-1 loss or the late timing of Gomes’ winner, but the fact that we played so well for much of the game. This was our fifth successive away defeat, yet the game played out as though we were top of the table, not Blackburn.
Rovers, a long-lost fixture of the Champions League betting, have a midfield that played full Premier League campaigns last season, yet we dominated the centre of the pitch.
Manager, Keith Hill, bemoaned our budget after the defeat and it is clear we were never meant to challenge mega-rich Rovers on Tuesday. Hill should be proud the lads dominated for long periods and only fell short when Blackburn brought on three fresh signings that we could never attract.
Our finishing was off all game, yet former Chelsea and Southampton man, Jacob Mellis, nicked his second of the season in clinical fashion, and we looked comfortable heading into the break before £8m new signing, Jordan Rhodes, levelled for the home side.
There is no way Barnsley could spend £8m on one player, nor could we afford the wages former internationals like Gomes no doubt demand. Instead, Hill is left to eke out a squad capable of sustaining itself in a cutthroat league and was desperately close to a major scalp on Tuesday.
There are reasons to be confident this season for Tykes fans, and although watching Gomes’ face crack with delight was a bitter pill to swallow, we can take solace in our ability to hold our own against one of the Championship’s strongest sides.
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Im a Blackburn fan and although I wasnt there, all the fans I know were saying you were the better side for most of the game.. so unlucky but keep going.. good luck for the season
"The Portuguese pensioner", yet he scored 6 minutes after coming on, hardly a "pensioner" still fast on the ball and a quality player.
The only thing I will object to as a Rovers fan is calling Gomes ugly. The man is gay icon FFS.
Wow.... what can I say, delusional much?
"only fell short when Blackburn brought on three fresh signings"
Does that include Jason Lowe, our youth team graduate? Or possibly Nunez who has had a total of 5 minuites game time at ewood at his tender age of 18.
Fact of the matter was, Barnsley were one of the worst teams i've ever seen grace the pitch at Ewood Park. The fact that Rovers were so poor just highlighted the fact that if we were playing any sort of decent team, Rovers would have lost about 6-0 on Tuesday.
Rovers give the ball away infront of goal and the Barnsley striker shoots closer to the corner flag in a 1 on 1 situation, pure comedy.
You forget yourselves, you played BRFC (as in premier leauge for 95% of its existence, as in ex-champions, as in Alan Shearer's old club) YES. But you were playing a side managed by the odious Steve Kean, even the local under 5's could proove a tactical nightmare for him, as you mentioned, Barnsley bossed the midfield, not because of the quality of player but because of the lack of quality on the sideline giving the orders.
As a Barnsley fan I tend to agree with these Blackburn nuts, a team that plays as poorly as Blackburn did should be punished, they shouldn't be coming away with all three points!!!
Going to be a long season if we can't put teams to bed.
Again BFC are in the habbit of conceding cheap goals at the end of each half, I'd like to know the stats on how many we have conceded in the last 5 min of a half!!!
I'm a Blackburn fan and for me Barnsley deserved 3 points. Rovers were awful - it was genuinely one of the worst performances I've seen in 20 years of going to Ewood.
The difference was that we had that little bit of quality when it was needed. Rhodes was fantastic but that's what you get for £8m.
With a little more composure in front of goal you'd have given us the thumping we deserved.
Gomes is hardly ugly though!
As a Blackburn fan, we might be able to afford better players but we have one huge drawback - our odious, incompetent manager. We might be top of the league but it is despite him rather than because of him. I would swap managers any day!
Rovers aren't exactly mega-rich. The books have been balanced by selling most of our best players in recent years for big money - Samba, Jones, Santa Cruz, Kalinic to name a few. These guys fetched over 50 million! We have got some expensive wages to pay, but it certainly isn't all from the parachute payments as Hill suggested. He made some valid points, but sounded childish in bemoaning his low budget. What would he say if he had a warchest and had gone home with all three points?
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