Early second-half goals from Adam Phillips and Josh Benson from the penalty spot saw Barnsley easily defeat Crewe Alexandra at Oakwell in the FA Cup 2nd Round yesterday – they’ll be ball number 50 in tomorrow night’s draw – after Devante Cole had given the hosts the lead in the first half.
Interim manager Lee Bell made two changes from last Saturday’s 1-0 win at Swindon Town with defenders Rod McDonald and Zac Williams coming in for Rio Adebisi and Lachlan Brook, both players dropping down to the bench.
The opening chance fell to the hosts in the 2nd minute with Mads Andersen heading a Luca Connell corner over the bar before the Alex’s first opportunity came in the 28th minute with Dan Agyei hitting the side netting after a good tackle by Eli King. Barnsley took the lead in the 30th minute as Devante Cole getting on the end of a Connell corner before the forward almost got his and the hosts’ second a couple of minutes later but Phillips’ cross would evade him.
The lead was doubled 5 minutes after the break with Phillips smashing from inside the area before things got worse for the Alex 5 minutes later, with King bringing down Connell as Benson sent Okonkwo the wrong way from the spot.
The next games for the Alex return to league action as Newport County are the visitors to the Alexandra Stadium on Friday night before Leyton Orient also travel to South Cheshire on Saturday 10th (with the earlier kick-off of 1:00 pm).
What can we take out of this game?
The result that most expected although in a way that people won’t be happy with – an overly negative team and little chance of getting opportunities at the right end of the pitch as far as the Alex are concerned.
A couple of mistakes led to the second-half goals with losing the ball in a dangerous area for the second before King brought down the opposing midfielder minutes later.