Analysis of Barnsley's 2-1 loss at Reading. Vimal Yoganathan opened the scoring but the hosts scored twice in the second half.

ANGRY CHANTS AS AWFUL FORM GOES ON

Since Barnsley beat Reading at home in September last season, they have played 50 League One matches and taken 51 points.

That is relegation form over a sustained period but clearly the Reds have dropped to a new level of ineptitude in the last two months.

This result meant Reds slipped to 23rd in the third tier table, three points off safety, while they have taken just one point from their last seven games. In all competitions they are winless in ten with nine defeats including six in a row. They will go to the bottom of the table if Wigan avoid defeat at Leicester in midweek.

The game was put into perspective in the morning with the news that Barnsley’s record appearance-maker Barry Murphy had died - a tragic loss of the best possible ambassador for the club. The away fans sang his name in the first half during which they were loud and supportive of their team who led.

But they understandably turned after the break when Reading came back to win, with chants of ‘we want Neerav out’ towards the chairman Parekh, ‘we want our club back’ and ‘you’re killing our club.’

Although the Reading fans chanted ‘sacked in the morning’ to Daniel Stendel after the game, he spoke to a small group who remained in the away end who clearly feel the problems are above him.

It has been a first quarter of the season as miserable as the weather in Reading on Saturday and there is no sign of it getting easier with Barnsley’s thin and young squad unable to capitalise on good situations or go through 90 minutes without making mistakes at the back no matter who is playing.

The Reds have lost their last six away games. If their basement battle at Wigan on November 14 is called off due to international call-ups, they will not play an away game for a month until they visit Bradford on November 24 while their next three league games will be against top seven sides Oxford, Sheffield Wednesday and Bradford.

ANOTHER GOOD START NOT BACKED UP

This was the first time Barnsley had lost to Reading in seven meetings. The Royals were sixth while no one had scored more goals in the division.

But Barnsley took an early lead then were the better side in the first half. Their press and general intensity seemed to surprise a home team who lacked quality and frustrated their own supporters – with Royals goalkeeper Joel Pereira bizarrely spending several minutes of the first half standing with the ball on the edge of his box.

But, after the break, Barnsley conceded a sloppy equaliser then had a shot cleared off the line seconds later but created nothing else for the remainder of the game – conceding a very sloppy winner. Reading messed around with the ball less at the back after the break and played better passes over the Reds’ high line to their pacy attackers.

All of their recent opponents have had a gear to go into that Barnsley could not match and the Reds often appear unable to react to setbacks. They seemed to totally run out of ideas and ability to penetrate the home defence with little impact from a series of late substitutes.

12 POINTS LOST FROM LOSING POSITIONS

For the third time in four games, the Reds were 1-0 up at half-time against a side in the top six.

But, just like against Stockport and Cambridge, they lost 2-1 after fading badly in the second half.

It must be very morale-sapping for the young squad to lose in identical fashion for three successive Saturdays.

When you add in the 5-1 home thrashing by Stevenage, they have lost 12 points from winning positions which is easily the most in the division.

They also top the table for conceding second half goals, with 15 shipped after the break in league games compared to six before.

They totally fell away in this game despite Reading having played one day later in midweek.

VIMAL CONTINUES GOOD FORM

Vimal Yoganathan continued his good form by putting Barnsley in front after seven minutes.

He only returned five weeks before this game from an injury picked up in pre-season and has three goals in seven games – all scrappy tap-ins from a combined distance of less than ten yards.

He opened the scoring for the second successive Saturday, with a scuffed shot off his lower leg after Cameron McGeehan’s header from a Reyes Cleary left-wing cross was blocked by a defender. It came from a nice move out of defence which saw a McGeehan 20-yard shot saved.

Yoganathan almost added a second but saw a shot headed off the line by Paudie O’Connor following a corner at 1-1.

He played on the right wing as one of four natural central midfielders in the starting 11. McGeehan was in the number ten role with Patrick Kelly and Luca Connell further back as the latter returned from suspension. They all played reasonably well for most of the game but, as the core of the team and some of the more experienced players, could not stop the tide turning against Barnsley.

Tobi Adeyemo started up front for a third straight game, with Stendel apparently preferring his all-round game to Makenzie Kirk who scored the previous midweek after returning from injury.

Adeyemo forced a save from the goalkeeper at 1-0 after the hosts gifted the ball to Reyes Cleary, but should have passed to McGeehan in the box. He touched the ball 18 times in 73 minutes then Kirk only touched it twice after replacing him.

CLEAR MISTAKES FOR BOTH GOALS

Reading’s impressive winger Kyreece Lisbie provided two fine finishes but was helped a lot by the visiting side.

For the leveller, Sam Gale should have cleared before Red Jacob Brown found Randell Williams whose cross from the left was missed by Jack Shepherd before Ziyad Larkeche ducked under it and the ball fell to Lisbie whose shot dribbled into the bottom left corner past Cieran Slicker who may have been unsighted and just sat on the floor.

For the winner, Cleary inexplicably lost the ball near halfway and a fine pass by Josh Stokes through the unset Reds defence put Lisbie in the clear to beat Slicker one-on-one. Cleary had done well for Barnsley’s goal but does have a habit of making an error at the other end of the pitch. He lost the ball again in injury-time and Lisbie went clean through but Slicker saved.

The Reds back four was more balanced in theory than in previous games, with Arley Kay moving across to right-back and the left-footed Larkeche on the left while Gale came in at centre-back for Connor O’Riordan who was dropped from the squad entirely after his bad night in Luton. Kay had a solid match but the other three made significant errors.

The defensive frailties remain throughout the team with deckchairs on the Titanic springing to mind when Stendel tries to rearrange the defence to find the answers.