Report by Ben Davis

The score line certainly isn't what Alan Ball, or the fans, would have wanted, but the manager must appreciate how hard Pompey battled. At two goals down they could easily have caved in, but Durnin's goal gave the small travelling army hope. In the end the dreadful weather may have lost the game as the swirling wind sent a Barnard corner directly into the net.
The players missing were: Adrian Whitbread, Jeff Peron, Russell Perrett and David Hillier. Alan McLoughlin made a great recovery to start after going off badly injured against Bradford. In defence David Waterman made his first start of the season in place of Whitbread whilst Andy Thomson had the chance to make up for his errors in the Bradford game. Those two were joined by Andy Awford who was back from an unlucky and unfair suspension. John Durnin took the midfield place of Peron. Barnsley included new signing Bruce Dyer and welcomed back striker Ashley Ward.
The conditions were awful with the unlucky Pompey fans feeling the effects along with the players since there was no roof on the away end. In the 8th minute a Barnard cross zipped across the area, but it went so fast that no-one could meet it. Knight managed to save Martin Bullock's follow-up.
It was Pompey who were playing the more passing football and Igoe was looking the most threatening player. Unfortunately, as in recent matches, it was going nowhere with Aloisi receiving no service. After Pompey's first corner had passed by they had another chance when Simpson got past his man down the left. It was an excellent piece of work by the Jamaican and he would not have been pleased that his intelligent pull-back wasn't met.
In the 23rd minute the weather almost helped gift Pompey a goal. McLoughlin's header back into the Barnsley area looked harmless until the wind got a hold of it and forced Tony Bullock to tip the ball over the bar. Three minutes later Barnsley took the lead. Appleby found Ward on the right side of the area. He easily spun his marker before firing in a hard shot which Knight could only deflect into the net.
Pompey clearly hadn't learnt their lesson when the duo almost combined again when Appleby's cross was missed by Ward. The goal had livened up a Barnsley side who were now exploiting the space available and it needed some gallant defending to keep the score line down. De Zeeuw and Dyer put headers wide whilst McClare flashed a shot over.
Barnard though was Barnsley's saviour when from a McLoughlin corner he hacked Durnin's shot off the line. Claridge may have done better in the 39th minute when he was smuggled off the ball from Simpson's cross. Dyer was then celebrating his first goal of the season when he latched onto Appleby's pass before slotting the ball past Knight. He was to be disappointed when he saw the linesman's flag raised for offside. The final say went to Durnin's whose attempted chip was flicked over by Tony Bullock.
The opening minutes were pretty quiet and Pompey should have made more of a McLoughlin corner in the 52nd minute. Two minutes Knight produced a smart save when the dangerous Appleby weaved his way into the area before his good shot was saved by the goalkeeper's feet.
It looked as though Igoe was on a charge when he swapped passes with Claridge, but in the end the physical presence of two defenders cut out the threat. In the 59th minute Barnsley extended their lead and things were looking bad again for Pompey. A Barnard in-swinging corner got caught in the wind and despite Knight's desperate attempt to keep the ball the right side of the line, the goal was given.
It could have been three moments later when Ward dinked a shot over Knight, but Waterman did well to clear the effort off the line. Aloisi's afternoon came to an end when he was replaced by Soley as Durnin moved into attack alongside Claridge. The home town striker couldn't quite pull a goal back when Tony Bullock got to a weak Jones back header first.
Knight made another telling save when he raced off his line to stop Ward going any further after the striker and got behind the Pompey defence. In the 75th minute Pompey pulled a goal back. Soley went in for a challenge with his ex-Leek team-mate Tony Bullock and the loose ball fell to Durnin who beat a defender before scoring.
Hopes were now raised with the travelling army making their usual volume of noise to urge their side on. However, nothing materialised and so Barnsley picked up the three points they needed after an poor result against Tranmere in midweek. Alan Ball will point to his missing creative players, particularly Peron. The news that Igoe will be suspended for the Norwich match was news that he didn't want to hear. "That was a cheep first goal we gave away. We had the ball for long spells but had no cutting edge. We were unfortunate with the second goal but we still need to tighten up on the defending side", said Ball after the game.