Carling Cup Holders For Barnsley In Round Four

This afternoon’s league cup fourth round draw has given Barnsley a home tie with the current holders Manchester United.

The Reds’ reward for three wins in the cup is the best tie they could hope for. Manchester United will surely draw the stay aways back to Oakwell, producing scenes reminscent of their F.A. Cup Quarter Final tie with Chelsea.

Manchester United could probably fill their allocation with Manchester United fans living in the South Yorkshire area alone so it should be another atmospheric night at Oakwell.

Barnsley famously dumped Manchester United out of the F.A. Cup in the fifth round replay in 1998 with a 3-2 victory at Oakwell, courtesy of a strike from John Hendrie and two goals by Scott Jones, after a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford.

It will be particularly interesting to see Mark Robins face his old manager Alex Ferguson, who he famously kept in a job with a late strike in the F.A. Cup third round in 1990.

One final thought springs to mind: With the excessive amounts of added time being played in Barnsley’s games of late, eight minutes at Derby County, five minutes at QPR, you might be forgiven for predicting a tight game, won by United in the 97th minute.