Eoghan O’Connell was a surprising but welcome piece of January business for Barnsley, attempting to shore up the Tykes’ leaky defence.
A draw at Wigan Athletic on New Year’s Day left the South Yorkshire outfit 16th in League One, level on points with Exeter City. But the Grecians had conceded just 21 goals to Barnsley’s 33, and the former had played two more matches.
O’Connell Arrives
Only a few days later, free agent O’Connell was snapped up by the Tykes after leaving Wrexham in September. Making his debut in their FA Cup tie at Liverpool, he has since featured in all nine of their League One encounters. It’s been a fairly inconsistent spell of form for Barnsley, fitting of their season to date, with an equal number of wins, draws and defeats in that time.
His former club, Wrexham, were much more solid in defence last term, as they won an unprecedented third successive promotion to reach the Championship. But, in O’Connell’s eyes, it’s not a lack of effort that is holding his new club back.
“I played in a team last season who, I think, had 25 clean sheets and we work a lot harder on defending here than we did there. It’s football, sometimes you can be trying too hard.
“We’re trying to put everything right and sometimes you just need the ball to bounce for you or someone to be there to block. That’s just the way football is sometimes.
“We have the attacking side of the game pretty good and we have to get to the stage where we don’t take away from that so we can win games.”
Barnsley At A Crossroads
It’s hard to decipher which direction Barnsley are going in. Heading into last Saturday’s clash with Huddersfield Town, the Tykes were eight points adrift of their Yorkshire counterparts, but with four games in hand. That gap was down to five at the interval at the Accu Stadium, with David McGoldrick giving them a first-half lead. That could have seen them emerge as dark horses for the final play-off spot.
But the Terriers responded after the interval to take all three points, and leave the South Yorkshire side rooted in mid-table. Conor Hourihane’s outfit have still played the fewest matches in the third tier, and have opened up a seven-point gap to the bottom four places in the division. In truth, they are one of probably three clubs who are looking certain to be playing League One football next season, barring a dramatic turn in form.
With struggling Leyton Orient next up on Saturday, victory would lift them onto 44 points, with 15 matches still to play. But there are still so many unanswered questions at Oakwell.