Barnsley’s winless run continued at the Walkers Stadium with a 1-0 defeat to Championship returnees Leicester City.
The Tykes welcomed new signings Emil Hallfredsson and Andy Gray into the fold, looking for their first win of the new league season.
Simon Davey opted for a 4-5-1 formation to try and shore up the leakiest defence in the Championship, leaving Andy Gray as the sole front man, supported by ex Foxes favourite Iain Hume from midfield.
It seemed the best Barnsley could have hoped for with this formation was a draw, asking for trouble with a negative line up.
Leicester started brighter with Robbie Neilson heading straight into Luke Steele’s hands. Barnsley did have a couple of shots after ten minutes but neither Jamal Campbell-Ryce nor Anderson De Silva could hit the target.
Iain Hume almost assisted Stephen Foster on 17 minutes with a corner but the Barnsley skipper fired his header over. Lloyd Dyer the almost gave the home side the lead skipping through the Barnsley defence too easily and firing just wide.
Davey was forced to make a change on 22 minutes, bringing on Rob Kozluk at right back to replace the injured Bobby Hassell.
The Reds began to find the target with shots raining in from Anderson, El Haimour and Devaney but City’s keeper Weale was equal them.
Just before half time Matty Fryatt could have given the Foxes the lead after Richie Wellens sent him clean through but the striker could only volley into Luke Steele’s hands.
Half-Time: Leicester City 0 Barnsley 0
On 53 minutes, Anderson threw himself in front of a Fryatt effort to save Barnsley but he found the net a minute later when he controlled Wellen’s cross, leaving himself with a simple finish from 6 yards and Steele with no chance.
Jack Hobbs could have made it 2-0 minutes later with a header from a corner which flew into the side netting.
Martin Devaney had 2 efforts in the space of seconds on the hour mark, his first well blocked and his second scooped well over the bar.
Barnsley’s best chance came from a Leicester City attack which broke down. Icelandic debutant Emil Hallfredsson sprinted with the ball from box to box before laying the ball off to Campbel-Ryce to his right, who found Gray with a first time pass 6 yards from goal. Gray’s effort was poor but Weale could only parry it into the path of the onrushing Iain Hume but he could only swing a right boot at the ball, sending it flying into the grateful Leicester fans. It was all academic as Gray had strayed offside in the build up anyway.
The introduction of Hammill and Macken for Devaney and Hume didn’t help the Reds cause and they left the Walkers Stadium with nothing to show for their 6 shots on target.
Full-Time: Leicester City 1 Barnsley 0
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