Barnsley 2-0 Grimsby Town

Barnsley 2-0 Grimsby Town

EFL Trophy

Tuesday 5th September 2023

A night out at Oakwell watching another game; this time in one of my favourite competitions and it was a pretty straightforward 2-0 win for Barnsley against Grimsby Town.

Unsurprisingly, given the amount of development football I watch, there were lots of familiar names involved and it was Owen Dodgson - a player who I watched for the first time last November (ironically playing against Barnsley’s U21s for Burnley) who grabbed the headlines.

Signed on loan on deadline day, he was making his Barnsley debut and popped up with the opener which put the Reds ahead on 35 minutes and his own display scooped him the ‘Man Of The Match’ award - and then right at the end, Aiden Marsh (flying right now and undoubtedly one of the most in-form players in U21s anywhere in the country) bagged his eighth goal of the season to wrap things up and add to his fantastic numbers when it comes to direct goals contributions already this term.

But it was a memorable night for a lot of players involved; four at Barnsley - including Owen Dodgson earned their heritage numbers (order in which they’ve made their debuts for the club). For Nathan James, who came off the bench, it was his professional debut altogether and something he’s certainly earned because he’s been consistently solid at centre-back and done well in the U21s since arriving at Barnsley (also from Burnley) towards the end of last season, whilst Grimsby also handed a first ever senior appearance to Cam Gardner and he’ll now remember this night for years to come too and will cherish his match-worn shirt too!

The EFL Trophy has its critics and certain fans will always trot out the old chestnut of ‘Including B Teams devalues the competition’ (yet I bet those same fans would still be at Wembley if their team got to the final though) - but despite all that nonsense, in the eight seasons now since a ‘Group Stage’ format was introduced, nobody can deny the EFL Trophy has provided the chance for so many young lads to make their debuts and get recognised to a wider audience.

For instance, almost 2,500 people were at this game and you just never, ever get that sort of crowd rocking up at any kind of development fixture!

Also, just ask Harvey Cartwright (vs Leicester, 2020), Danny Amos (vs Mansfield, 2016), Max Watters (vs Man United, 2019), Harrison Nejman and Danny Benson (both vs Lincoln, 2022) about their pro debuts - or Aaron Braithwaite (vs Derby, 2022). They were all in this competition!

So that’s why I always enjoy these fixtures and watch as many as possible every season.

On the pitch - and as for the game itself, the first 30-35 minutes wasn’t the most exciting ever but with neither ‘keeper having really been troubled, that suddenly changed when Barnsley took the lead as Maël de Gevigney’s long-throw into the box was flicked on by Sam Cosgrave to where Owen Dodgson was waiting on the edge of the six-yard box to swoop the ball home and make it 1-0.

Thereafter, Barnsley got their tails up and had a decent little spell of dominance towards the end of the first half where they pressed and probed. One through ball very nearly led to something, when a Harrison Nejman pass found its way through to Max Watters, Grimsby ‘keeper Harvey Cartwright (on loan from Hull and meant to be a sound lad) was forced into a save at his near-post, and then the best chance of the lot came just before half-time when Sam Cosgrave ended up getting clean through, inside the box, in a one-on-one with the goal at his mercy and should have buried it but somehow put the ball wide of the post with Cartwright coming out to try and narrow the angle - just one of those things!

The second half wasn’t the most exciting as goalmouth action again remained scarce - and that’s partly down to Jamie Bramwell (another familiar face who I’ve seen before at youth level) as he came on, played RCB as part of a three-man Grimsby defence and did really well - great to see and very refreshing too, having not been able to watch him for a while. He largely won his one-v-one battles with Aiden Marsh (nipping in well to nick the ball three times), had decent distribution, a good output, won one in the air against Max Watters - put a good cross into the box later on from out on the right and offered quite a bit - including also turning away from pressure late on to send a ball down the line. Brammers’ first appearance of the season but a pleasing showing on his part!

Around the same time as Marshy’s introduction from the bench for Barnsley, Cam Gardner came on and did likewise for Grimsby - nicest feeling in the world to make your professional debut, whilst Nathan James was also introduced for Barnsley for his debut too (and showed one brilliant piece of defending where he tracked back well to make a challenge after a loose pass by a team-mate - great stuff) plus Vimal Yoganathan came on in midfield wasn’t afraid to get stuck in and apply himself.

As a contest; the game seemed to drift towards the end without too much going on. 

Harvey Cartwright kept out a long shot from distance which was speculative (quite an easy stop) but in their search for an equaliser, Grimsby couldn’t quite build-up any intensity to properly push Barnsley back, get on top and really dominate things like they needed to do.

There was one concerning moment when Kyran Lofthouse collided with Jamie McCart which led to Lofthouse having his head banged up and having to be subbed which paved the way for Danny Benson’s introduction plus a load of injury-time.

And it was during the seven added minutes that Barnsley made the game safe as Aiden Marsh found space in the six-yard box to latch onto Josh Benson’s squared ball across goal from the right - and tapped home to get his name on the score-sheet with ‘Goal Numero 8’ this season.

And that was that!

Overall, a good night; not the most exciting game ever (but when you’ve done a few tedious 0-0’s in Europe like I have before, then it doesn’t bother me) and it’s always nice to see so many lads getting their names out there and being seen by a bigger crowd than what they’re used to.

You never know who is watching and who you could impress!

Finally, as I’m writing this on 6th September, a big Happy 21st Birthday to another top lad at Barnsley… Joe Ackroyd. He gets as many yellow cards as he will birthday cards but it’ll be great to see him back out on a pitch buzzing around again in the near future!