Sheffield Wednesday were unable to back up their Sheffield derby victory from the weekend at Oakwell on Tuesday as the home side were quick out of the traps and caught Wednesday cold.
The hosts took the lead within five minutes and in truth could have been out of sight by half-time. Wednesday were reduced to 10 men before half-time when right-back McMahon made a badly judged lunging tackle. He did not make contact with his opponent Kozluk but the referee deemed it a dangerous enough challenge to warrant a dismissal.
Unlike our city rivals on Sunday however, we will not blame the referee for our defeat and must take a look at our first half performance, or rather a lack of one as we were second best throughout it. Despite a large following of away fans the team didn't seem to approach the game as if it was a derby and the display was almost akin to the one that Sheffield United put in at Hillsborough last season.
Wednesday managed to show some fight in the second half, thanks in no small part to the introduction of club Captain Steve Watson.
A rare appearance from Leon Clarke also added some threat and an unlikely comeback was almost produced but in truth Barnsley deserved the three points.
Brian Laws has managed to create a great team spirit and work rate within the squad but at times his tactical decisions and substitutions are questionable and against Barnsley his initial team selection left a few people scratching their heads.
Fair enough, with two games in three days changes were understandable but if Watson was fit enough to play for 45 minutes then surely he should have started the game which would have perhaps given us a chance of a getting an early foothold in the match. His experience and ability gave Wednesday some hope, belief and desire in the second half after looking all at sea in the first 45. Jimmy Smith has hardly played a game for the Owls and was unable to impose himself at all as we failed to cope with the home side's frenetic start.
To start with Gilbert in wide midfield suggested that we were almost running scared of the likes of Campbell-Ryce and put us on the back foot. Why not back the players we have and start with either Esajas to attack them or Tudgay wide with Burton and Jeffers upfront as Marcus would certainly have not shirked any defensive responsibilities.
It was also a tough game for Buxton to make his debut in the heart of the defence. Would we have faired better with Spurr at centre-back and Gilbert on the left of the back four?
We created next to nothing in the first half and it was pointless starting with Jeffers if we were not going to give him any decent service.
If we were going to pick a derby to win this past few days then it would have been the Sheffield derby but just as we did against Plymouth recently we have missed a good opportunity to build on a strong position in the league.