The dominance we had last Thursday should have given us a 2-0 half-time lead at the very least, and I believe with a 2-0 start last night things would have panned out very differently.

Other than that, can't really fault any of the players who certainly put the effort in on the night but were perhaps beaten mentally.

The first half seemed to follow the right script, although I was concerned at Clarke, who seemed a bit nervy with his passing, failing to pick out Town players on far too many occasions. The sight of Adams doing Macintoshes work in the middle on a number of Barnsley attacks was a bit worrying as well and didn't bode well for a confident performance for 90minutes from the two centrebacks.

Schofield had a decent first half and was unfortunate on the end of what looked like a couple of the best footballing moves I've seen at Town in YEARS - the one in the opening few minutes where Graham (I think) and Schofield exchanged passes before a sublime ball was slotted into the box for Booth to run onto and hit on the half-volley (keeper saved) was football how it should be.

And then it all went wrong in the second half. Barnsley were buouyed by the penalty (I couldn't really tell what happened) and even though things were only even it seemed to suck the wind from Towns sails somewhat.

That made Worthingtons goal all the more pleasing...and surprising...over the course of the season we haven't chased enough lost causes, and now we've scored 2 goals in 2 games from them, from where I was sat it looked like Worthington was either going to injure the keeper, get red carded, or hurt himself, so to see the ball bobbling slowly into the back of the net was immense. I think the few minutes that followed were the only time I truly felt we were off to Cardiff (despite having one foot there for 56 minutes), it was very similar to the few minutes that followed GT-Fs goal down at Chelsea.

Unfortunately, I think Jackson and Yorath believed we'd done it at that point as well, as, with hindsight, THAT was the time to make a change - we needed to slow the game up, pack midfield out and get our heads back on doing the right things, especially as Adams was still stuck in a bit of a red mist he seemed to have caught from the penalty decision.

Don't really remember much of the 2nd Barnsley goal, but then the substitution came and it was the wrong one. When the game is slipping away you don't swap like-for-like, you CHANGE things tactically.

Barnsley had 10 mins of believe, and they got their third goal on the back of that extra energy it gave them...I don't think anyone could really be faulted, it was a difficult shot in the conditions for Rabs to deal with, if he'd tried to palm it wide the pace could well have taken it in anyway - and given the ball was swirling as it approached him, I'd probably suggest that just getting any kind of contact on the ball was a good effort. Unfortunately, though he'd had a pretty good game and his kicking especially seems to have improved in recent weeks, the third goal seemed to sap a bit of composure from Rabs, and he went into a spate of snatching at the ball and pulling it to his left when kicking just when we needed it putting into the crowd up front.

Bringing Abbott on for Graham for me was pretty pointless. For one, you could argue (and I would) that a David Graham who has played for 70 minutes in a high tempo, physical game is better than Abbott at the moment, but if he is going to come on, surely replacing Booth was the right move? Booth had had a poor aerial game compared to last Thursday, we weren't getting much from the few knock-ons he did make, the negative aspects of his game far outweighed what he brings to the field.

I felt at the time that Abbott and Graham, two footballing players, would have brought Schofield back into the game more and given us more options along the ground and there would have been a chance of doing something a bit different and getting back into the game.

With Booth and Abbott on, that chance ebbed away in my mind. With Abbott going on to have what is rapidly becoming his normal game (I don't know if he's not match fit or if he finds it difficult coming on in the middle of a blood and thunder game from the bench or what) - he completely failed to get INTO the game and put in the effort that was required. The only real drive I saw from him was when running back along the touchline towards his own goal with the ball in a move that must have had Cheltenham praying on his mind...well it did mine anyway! I don't know what the answer is with Abbott, but hopefully we find it in pre-season.

Difficult to fault the Brandon sub, the right player went off given we were chasing the game, although he added little to the outcome.

Overall then, if we'd brought on Ahmed for Graham or Booth as soon as Worthington scored to pack out the middle, or Abbott on for Hudson when we went behind I think we could have been there.

Still - I don't feel as disapointed as I did after recent home defeats and a number of games we've as good as thrown away this season.

What happens next?

I suspect another season of League 1 means Rabchubka stays as number 1 rather than being replaced, with Senior making way for the young one and bring in a loan keeper if Rabs gets a red card or is injured for any length of time.

Mirfin to replace Macintosh (does he have another year?).

We'll probably get another season out of Booth (which would have been just about impossible to justify up a level?) - Graham will return to Wednesday so we've got to pray Abbott finds his lucky charm over summer, maybe another season long loan (except from the START of the season) for a pacy / physical striker.

And then we need a combatitive midfielder to play alongside Worthington (who probably deserves to be encamped their next season given his end to this one), GTF (who for me is our 'effort' player of the season) and Schofield.

We could do with someone like an injury free Tony Carss as well!?

What worries me is where the goals will come from...I KNOW we've scored a lot this season, but most of them seemed to come from pretty much nothing...like early doors Abbott was banging away nothing chances and scoring, however, in recent months we've failed to create many REAL chances in and around the box.

Anyway - onwards and upwards.

By Nigel Taylor from the HTFC mailing list.