MATCH PREVIEW | CARDIFF CITY vs BARNSLEY
Match Previews
16th December
Cardiff City welcome Barnsley to South Wales for their second home Sky Bet Championship fixture of the week.
Can the Bluebirds secure two wins on the bounce and stretch their unbeaten run to four League games?
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THE OPPOSITION
Barnsley arrive in South Wales occupying eleventh place in the Championship table. The Tykes were promoted from League One via the Play-Offs last season and have made a good start to life back in the second tier of English football under head coach Paul Heckingbottom.
The Yorkshire side’s matches tend to be full of goals; they lost 5-2 to Nottingham Forest at the end of November, but responded well in their next game to dispatch Birmingham City 3-0 away, with Sam Winnall bagging a brace and defender Marc Roberts also getting on the score-sheet.
Last time out though, Barnsley failed to find the back of the net in midweek and went down 2-0 to Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough. Defender Angus MacDonald unfortunately put through his own net for the Tykes and Sam Hutchinson made sure of the points for Wednesday ten minutes from time.
Tykes forward Sam Winnall leads the side's scoring charts this season with seven goals to date, having netted twenty-four last time out as Barnsley secured promotion from League One.
CLUB CONNECTIONS
Stephen McPhail joined Barnsley from Leeds United in 2004. During his two years at the club he helped the Tykes win promotion to the Championship, defeating Swansea City via a penalty shootout at the Millennium Stadium. That turned out to be Macca’s last game for the club as he left to join the Bluebirds for the start of the 2006/07 campaign.
Many incredible highlights followed and Macca is back to relive them this weekend! The City legend returns to CCS as our guest of honour for Saturday's clash with Barnsley, and will greet the fans ahead of kick-off against the Tykes!
City Manager, Neil Warnock is another to have previously played for the Tykes. Neil arrived at the club after a spell with Aldershot and made nearly 60 appearances between 1976-78.
Other players to have represented both clubs include Danny Drinkwater, Kelvin Etuhu, Liam Lawrence and Tony Warner.
MEMORABLE MEETING
The Bluebirds and the Tykes met in a goal-laden match at Cardiff City Stadium on 22nd October, 2011.
City striker Kenny Miller put his side ahead on ten minutes after latching on to Don Cowie’s pass. Unfortunately for the Scottish striker he had to go off injured soon after. His replacement Joe Mason, however, entered the fray with a bang; Peter Whittingham saw his free kick parried by ‘keeper Luke Steele and super-sub Mason was on hand to tap home the rebound.
Former Bluebird Danny Drinkwater halved the deficit a couple of minutes later - scoring direct from a free kick to drag his side back into the contest. It took barely two minutes for City to restore their two goal cushion though, as Aron Gunnarsson superbly volleyed home Whittingham’s lofted pass to make it 3-1. Just before the hour mark, Cowie then rounded Steele to add yet another goal to the score-sheet - the Bluebirds' fourth of the afternoon.
City were then in dreamland when Gunnarsson scored his second of the game to make it 5-1 to the home side. There was still time for Barnsley to pull two goals back through Jimmy McNulty and Ricardo Vaz Tê but these were only ever consolation strikes, and City saw the game out for an eye-catching 5-3 win.
TYKES FACTS
- Barnsley were founded in 1887
- The Tykes have lifted the FA Cup once in 1912. They beat West Bromwich Albion 1-0 in the Final Replay at Bramall Lane thanks to a last gasp goal from Harry Tufnell.
- Barnsley were promoted from League One last season by virtue of winning the Play-Offs. The Tykes dispatched Millwall 3-1 in the final at Wembley.
DON'T MISS A MOMENT!
LISTEN: Supporters can listen in live on Cardiff City Player HD* for all the action from City vs Barnsley.
WATCH: Extended highlights of the match will be available to subscribers of Cardiff City Player HD*
SOCIAL: Live updates from CCS will come via our official Twitter account, @CardiffCityFC.
*Search ‘Cardiff City’ on the App Store and Google Play Store to view Cardiff City Player HD on Smart Phones, with content available to subscribers 24/7.
