The Stat Attack – Barnsley

Lenny367 takes a look at the stats that matter ahead of the R`s trip to Oakwell tomorrow afternoon.

The history books showed that The R`s didn`t like the visit to Cardiff this week, and they show a similar story for Saturday`s visit to Barnsley at Oakwell.

Our first trip north came in an FA Cup tie a few days short of 99 years ago when we exited the cup having lost by the only goal.

The first league fixture at Oakwell came on the 22nd January 1949 in the “old” Second Division, when we were thumped 4 – 0. Worse was to follow, as we lost our next five visits, including a humiliating 7-0 defeat on the 4th November 1950.

At the sixth time of asking we managed to travel home having gained a point in a 3-3 draw on the 3rd September 1960. Then went one better on 26th August 1961 when we won at Oakwell for the first time, taking all the points in a 4-2 victory.

Over the years Barnsley have undoubtedly had the upper hand as in the 20 league games played we have returned home victorious only three times, shared the points six occasions and come away empty handed 11 times.

Looking at the scores in these games it shows that a 3-1 defeat or a 0-0 draw has been the most frequent score, happening on three occasions. We have failed to score on ten of our 20 visits.

We are unbeaten in our last six games away from Loftus Road, winning two and drawing four, scoring ten and conceding five.

Oakwell is not the place to go for goals, as in their last six home games Barnsley have won once, drawn two and lost three, scoring four goals and conceding only five in the process.

Our scoring stats show that we are most likely to score either between 15 and 30 minutes and in the last 15 minutes of the game, and we appear to be more vulnerable to concede between the 60th and 75th minutes.

At home Barnsley score most of their goals in the first 15 minutes after half time, and are vulnerable to conceding in the last 30 minutes of the game.

Looking at this fixture historically, the odds point to a home win. However our recent away form together with Barnsley`s not so good home form shows that this is a very good time to improve our record and come away with something on Saturday.

My view is that we will take a lead early in the first half but be pegged back just after half time. However, a late goal will ensure we come away with all the points.

Lenny`s Prediction – 2-1 Rangers

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