Swansea City v Barnsley Competition - Sky Bet Championship Venue - Swansea.com Stadium Date - 15 April 2022 Kick off - 3:00pm Following a run of 3 successive victories against Cardiff, Millwall and finally ‘Wayne Rooney’s Derby County’, next up for Russell Martin’s Swansea squad is a home match against relegation threatened Barnsley. Last Saturday, two Joel Piroe goals inspired the Swans to victory against a Derby side fighting for Championship survival. The Dutch forward struck twice in quick succession in the first half with two stylish first-time finishes. Tom Lawrence's penalty brought Derby back into the contest soon after but Swansea had the better of the second half with Hannes Wolf hitting the bar. Arguably, the principal talking point was the standard of officiating with referee Tim Robinson at the centre - the Swans were denied a penalty for handball, and then Robinson - in my opinion - bottled out giving a free kick when Paterson was taken out by the goalie as the ref knew he would have had to show a red card. Additionally, Derby felt that they should have been awarded a penalty right at the end, with Rooney berating and ranting at the Fourth Official. Hardly unsurprisingly, Rooney focussed on this in his after match comments - yet failed to mention either Swansea incident! Anyway, an eighth successive away defeat kept Derby 23rd in the Championship and nine points adrift of safety. Swansea's fourth win from five, meanwhile, moved them up to 14th in the table. Whilst the Swans were beating the Rams, Millwall were thrashing Barnsley 4-1 to improve their chances of grabbing a Championship play-off spot and adding to the Tykes' relegation fears in the process. Wing-back Danny McNamara scored a brace which began with a first-half tap-in, before he headed home after the break. Barnsley stayed in the game when Romal Palmer smashed the ball in, but clinical finishes from Oliver Burke and Benik Afobe sealed the three points. The Tykes are now eight points adrift of safety with six games to go, while Millwall are four points off the play-off places with five matches remaining. The Swans have played the Tykes on 79 previous occasions, winning 39, losing 24 and drawing 16. In the corresponding (regular season) fixture last season, the Swans ran out comfortable 2-0 winners thanks to an early Jamal Lowe goal and a second half own-goal: How bad did the pitch look Turning to Friday, current form would suggest a ‘routine’ home win, but with Barnsley battling to escape the drop, it could be closer than expected. That said, I think that the Swans will run out 3-1 winners
Thanks Taff. If we play with the confidence we have been playing with over the last few weeks then surely it's got be a Swans win. I have no doubt Barnsley will make it difficult for us but will they try and press us or put numbers behind the ball. Again if we score early I can see a 3-0 win.
This is a classic potential "banana skin" game! We are brimming with confidence, playing well, winning games comfortably.... However, this is the perfect opportunity to show us that RM is finally making real progression and I expect a dominating home win. There is absolutely no reason why RM shouldn't be going all out to win this game and win it in style. No complacency! We should score at least two, I hope we don't gift them one.
Thanks Taff.....the chances of reaching the play offs are minimal but still....with the players exuding confidence and playing on the front foot I can see us scoring a few goals and winning easily....but please keep Fisher away from their forwards.
Looking at our final set of fixtures we have a decent run in and with a bit of luck we could go unbeaten through to the end of the season. Reading away - this is winnable Boro at home - we should be looking to win this one Bournemouth at home - tough game but we have showed we can compete with the top teams Forest away - tough game as Forest are going for it but a chance to show Cooper what he left behind QPR at home - what better way to end the season in style
“Steve Cooper says he contacted the Football Association (FA) over referee Andy Woolmer before Swansea City's 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday. There was controversy in stoppage time when Cooper felt his team should have had a penalty or seen a potential winner from Kasey Palmer stand. Northamptonshire official Woolmer gave the Owls a free-kick. "One thing was for sure, that whatever the decision was, it was not going to us," said Swans boss Cooper. "It's personal unfortunately. "Apparently it was a foul on the goalkeeper that he blew the whistle for. Good luck in writing about that one, whatever it was. "But it was a performance I predicted from the official and one that I spoke to the governing body about a few days ago. My prediction was right." It is understood the FA has written to Cooper to seek his observations in relation to his comments. Cooper had clarified that he "spoke on the phone to the FA" about Woolmer, who had not previously refereed Swansea this season but took charge of five of their games last season. "There were a few warning signs with the appointment, and maybe my gripe isn't just with the performance on the pitch, maybe it's with how he came to be here," Cooper added. "I don't want to say too much, because we know who loses in these situations, and it's me and the club with a fine. "I thought I knew where things were going to go tonight and sometimes I don't get things right, but I did with this one." Swansea felt a Wednesday player had handled in the late goalmouth scramble which led to a free-kick for the visitors. Cooper also suggested Palmer's goal could have stood, as the midfielder's volley flew into the net within a couple of seconds of the whistle being blown. Swansea's head coach was also unhappy with a challenge on Korey Smith which left him with a "terrible gash" on the back of his calf but went unpunished. Happy bloody days
From the Club: “Swansea City would like to inform supporters about an increase to prices within our concourse and hospitality areas, in line with the rising costs associated to businesses in light of the recent cost of living. Back in 2021, the club made the decision to take catering in-house, after mutually agreeing to terminate its contract with Sodexo. The club was therefore able to introduce new products to our hospitality and concourse areas, using local suppliers and lowering prices. The club has endeavoured to remain transparent with supporters wherever possible, and felt it was important to communicate why these increases across the stadium will be introduced. Swansea City, like many other businesses, must now factor in an increase in product costs, consumables such as cleaning equipment, and rising energy bills. As well as this, there was also an increase to the National Living Wage earlier this month. As an example, supporters will see the cost of chips go from £3 to £3.50, a cup of coffee from £2 to £2.20 and a pint of Carling going from £4.40 to £4.80. Price increases will be in effect from this Friday’sfixture against Barnsley. The club will continue to run promotional offers on a match day, with our cheapest prices being available in the first 45 minutes of turnstiles opening. The club has been committed to partnering with and supporting local businesses, something which has been well received by supporters, but while their costs increase so do ours. We thank supporters for their understanding of these changes.”
The thoughts of Barnsley Head Coach, Poya Asbaghi: SWANSEA CITY "They're a very unique team in this league, there aren't many sides who play this way and we know we aren't going to beat them at possession, at keeping the ball. "But what we can do is work harder than they can to make sure that when we do have the ball, we punish them. "And we have players with the talent to hurt them. But again, we must give 100% and if we get the win we need, then it can be perfect for us in terms of momentum, to hopefully give us a chance to keep our season alive."
