Barnsley 3 Albion 1 - analysis

What a shocker . . .

And, if it seems a touch risky to put the boot in on a team sitting second in the Championship, fear not.

Barnsley put the boot in first. And they proved Albion are unlikely to bite back.

Less than a fortnight after the Baggies blasted five goals past Middlesbrough on a spectacular day on Teesside, they were last night blown away by a struggling side who shipped five goals themselves at the weekend.

A woeful display against an impressive Tykes side posed serious questions about an Albion team who, just a few days ago, were being hailed as the team to beat in the Championship.

There were questions about the size and depth of the Hawthorns squad and questions about defenders whose early-season progress has been destroyed in the space of a week.

And, most seriously, there were questions over the battling qualities of an Albion team out-fought in successive matches.

Last night's implosion could have been explained away as a one-off, had Saturday's no-show against Crystal Palace not represented a flashing warning sign of the potential dangers.

Having constructed a hugely im-pressive start to the season by confounding several previous criticisms, Albion have failed to rise to the latest fresh challenge put before them.

For the first time since Roberto Di Matteo took charge, successive opponents have put themselves 'in the faces' of his team. And, having wilted under pressure from Crystal Palace, they did so again at Oakwell.

The Italian bore the look of a worried man when he finally emerged from the tunnel around 45 minutes after the final whistle.

And his concern was well-founded with the understudies in his squad offering precious little confidence that they can step in when the leading men are laid low.

With Luke Moore missing, all three of his other strikers got a chance to shine. And, despite some admirable effort from Messrs Wood, Bednar and Cox, there was little success for the trio.

But, most worryingly of all, it was the first-choice back-four that caved in under the first signs of Barnsley pressure.

It was hard to believe this was still the same month in which the Baggies left Boro shell-shocked on an historic day in the north east.

Memories of that fabulous performance provide a glimmer of hope that they could still recover their poise at Preston on Saturday.

But, on the evidence of last night, it will take one hell of an effort to cure their ills before Deepdale.

The visitors should have been behind in the opening moments last night when a crunching tackle from Anderson Da Silva floored Joe Mattock and the Brazilian was allowed to run on. He tied Olsson in knots before unleashing a cross-shot that flew inches wide.

The home side were fortunate, however, to remain at full-strength on 11 minutes when the airborne Carl Dickinson flattened Bednar with a horrid late challenge from behind. But the on-loan Stoke man escaped with a yellow card when he could have been dismissed.

Bednar was able to continue but his and Albion's mood was hardly improved three minutes later when they fell a goal behind.

They were exposed horribly by John Macken down the right and his cross found Iain Hume, whose acrobatic volley hit Martis but rebounded to Hammill, who wriggled easily clear of two defenders before beating Scott Carson.

If Albion had been unconvincing before the goal, their patience abandoned them entirely in the minutes that followed as they laboured in search of an equaliser.

The Tykes' dominance paid off just after the half-hour when they doubled their lead in bizarre fashion.

Macken's header from a right-wing cross seemed to have crossed the line but referee Scott Mathieson awarded a penalty for a shove against Shelton Martis instead.

Iain Hume avoided any lingering controversy by drilling the spot-kick low past Carson for his first goal since the horror of the fractured skull that threatened his career.

But any hope of an unlikely recovery was extinguished with 10 minutes left when Martis's horrendous evening was epitomised by the hapless own-goal when he turned in Hammill's cross at the far post.

Chris Brunt did score for the Baggies eight minutes later and his clean 25-yard strike was a stunner. But the lack of celebrations was evidence of its overall irrelevance.

By Steve Madeley.