The Reds picked up their first point at Oakwell this season and were unlucky not to take all three against Sven Goran Eriksson‘s big-spending Foxes.

Unlike previous games at home this season, Barnsley settled well into this game and were never put under any serious pressure by the visitors in the first-half.  Leicester’s main threat came through dangerous debutant Jermaine Beckford, however Steele looked comfortable and assured in the Barnsley goal showing why he is a contender for August’s player of the month award – an accolade that doesn’t very often go to a goalkeeper.

Mid-way through the first-half, Barnsley began to play some of the quick passing football not seen since pre-season and it only seemed a matter of time before the Reds took the lead after failing to convert a number of good opportunities.  Seven minutes before half time, Andy Gray‘s close-range header rebounded off the crossbar and fell to Jacob Butterfield who directed the ball home from the edge of the six yard box.

The Reds looked good value for their lead at half-time and were perhaps unlucky not to be further ahead.  The home crowd had been spurred on by the positive attacking football played by Barnsley with the moans and groans of previous Oakwell games replaced with positive encouragement that the players seemed to respond to.

With conservative estimates suggesting that the Leicester team had cost at least ten times more than the Barnsley team in transfer fees, the Foxes manager will have no doubt been disappointed with his teams showing in the first-half.  Eriksson brought on Andy King at the start of the second-half and he had an immediate impact, equalising for the visitors after just twenty-one seconds.

Despite the early setback, there was still a confidence amongst the Oakwell faithful that Barnsley could score more goals and go on and win the game.  However, whilst Barnsley continued to play an entertaining and effective game, they were unable to beat the excellent Kasper Schmeichel.

The result leaves Barnsley in fifteenth place in the table with six points from six games.  Whilst the start to the season hasn’t been brilliant, it’s hardly been distastrous considering the number of new players in the squad, and the fact that the start compares quite well with this stage of the season in the last few years.

Highlights

View highlights of the game from The Football League show on BBC iPlayer.  (These highlights are normally available for around a week after the game has been played.)

Match Facts

Barnsley: Steele, Hassell, McNulty, Foster, Edwards (Wiseman 59), Drinkwater, Butterfield, O’Brien, Perkins, Done (Haynes 79), Gray.
Subs not used: Preece, Park, Doyle.

Leicester City: Schmeichel, Konchesky (Peltier 86), Pantsil, Mills, Bamba, Gallagher (King 46), Vassell, Wellens, Beckford (Dyer 90), Danns, Fernandes.
Subs not used: Weale, Abe.

Attendance: 10,862 (2,106 away)

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