Brave Barnsley beaten as Liverpool land Brighton in FA Cup Fourth-Round

Liverpool defeat third-tiered Barnsley Football Club four goals to one in what can be described as a victory but a ‘hard-fought’ one as “The Tykes” can return to their South Yorkshire homeland proud, passionate and patriotic for their relentless display against the reigning champions of England at the very summit of the English football pyramid.

The Third-round tie commenced out right from the referee’s whistle as Barnsley started beautifully, pressing the hosts from the front when out of possession and defending with each and every one of their ten outfield players as the Liverpool players continued to switch the ball between themselves in an attempt to open the scoring.

It took Barnsley approximately 60 seconds to give the Anfield hosts a reality check on how lower-tiered football leagues do not measure or accumulate the quality or tenacity of the football team when Adam Phillips’ delivery found Barnsley’s Davis Keillor-Dunn into the box who headed the ball across goal, beating Liverpool’s Georgian international goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili with his effort hitting the post.

Barnsley used this opportunity to stick to their game plan and for a solid several minutes, they used their opportunities on the ball efficiently, delivering balls into the six-yard box, striking shots on goal and despite Keillor Dunn’s header being the only, genuine threat towards the Liverpool half, Barnsley can be commended for putting the Premier League champions on high alert and the pulse of the Anfield atmosphere momentarily on hold.

Barnsley’s bravehearted boys suffered a blow when Dominik Szoboszlai’s rocket from outside the box broke the deadlock for Liverpool. Szoboszlai’s reluctance to celebrate his goal can summarise just how excellent Barnsley’s defence were in the opening 45 minutes as a whole defeating Liverpool in every aspect of defending with 17 clearances compared to Liverpool’s 6, an 80 percent tackle ratio compared to Liverpool’s 67 percent and Barnsley’s eight interceptions to Liverpool’s two to name a few.

Despite being a goal down, Barnsley continued to push for a leveller and almost reaped the reward of their efforts when Barnsley’s no.30 Jonathan Bland hit a volley outside of the box, inspired by Cody Gakpo’s partial clearance from their set-piece and forced a save from Liverpool’s goalkeeper Mamardashvili.

Seven minutes later, Keillor-Dunn was on the spotlight again, a one-on-one situation with Virgil Van Dijk who infamously switched into his backward-defending style, Keillor-Dunn rapidly got away from Van Dijk and launched his shot on target but forced the goalkeeper to drop into the ground with the ball safely in his hands.

In the 35th minute, it looked like Anfield hopes turned into reality when Jeremih Frimpong rapidly gets ahead of Barnsley’s left-back Nathanael Ogbeta and fired his shot into the roof of the net to make it 2-0 to the hosts.

Barnsley once again remained resolute and continued initiating chances when regaining possession and putting bodies on the line quite literally, when Liverpool launched attacks towards their half and pressing from the front and their continued efforts were eventually rewarded four minutes later when Corey O’Keeffe’s pass to Adam Phillips was asking too much as it was intercepted by Dominik Szoboszlai but as Adam Phillips continued pressurising Szoboszlai as he carried the ball into his own box, Szoboszlai’s miscued backheel does not come off and allows Adam Phillips with a gift to slot the ball into the back of the net in front of the Kop end. An eventful 45 minutes ended with three goals between the two sides but an excellent display from the visitors who were brave and persistent in sticking to their manager Conor Hourihane’s tactics.

The second half commenced and demonstrated no signs of slowing down when considering the tempo and the number of attacking chances both Liverpool and Barnsley launched in front of the opposing goals. A potential turning point in the game almost occurred when Barnsley’s Reyes Cleary was brought down in the penalty area by Dominik Szoboszlai but the referee was not interested and it left an enraged Barnsley manager Conor Hourihane and relieved Liverpool throughout the stands.

Florian Wirtz vowed from within not to miss his next opportunity and a vow he followed through, as a beautiful flick by Hugo Ekitike to find Wirtz who curls the ball with his right foot eloquently into the back of the net before assisting Hugo Ekitike who tapped in the fourth before the referee Farai Hallam signalled Liverpool’s confirmation into the fourth round of England’s most coveted competition.

Liverpool will face Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield in a month’s time.