Oakwell

Barnsley 0-1 Leicester City

Aerial shot of Oakwell (Bing Maps)

Ratings

Overall Ground Quality : 7/10

Ease of getting there : 8/10

Atmosphere : 9/10

Programme : 7/10

View of Action : 10/10

Quality of the game : 5/10

The "football" feeling : 7/10

Chances of coming here for a random game : 3/10

Legroom : 9/10

Surrounding area : 5/10

Overall : 70/100

Pontefracts Road End

North Stand

West Stand

East Stand

West Stand

North Stand

Pontefracts Road End

West Stand and North Stand

Barnsley 0-1 Leicester City

I (Ross) thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Oakwell, the weather was superb and City won which meant 2nd tier safety.
The result at Oakwell together with results elsewhere on this penultimate day of the season saw Leeds United, one of Barnsley’s Yorkshire rivals, relegated to the third tier of English football. This not surprisingly had home fans in good spirits too.
Adrian picked me (Ross) up in Coalville mid-morning for the hour long journey up the M1 to South Yorkshire.
A big police presence was evident as we came off at junction 37, City was bringing several thousand fans and coaches were parked on the motorway bridge awaiting the usual police escorted convoy through the town.
As we travelled by car we had no such issues, parking just off the A61 for a quick getaway following the game.
One of Adrian's work colleagues, Chris (Barnsley fan) had got us cheap tickets in the East Stand with the Barnsley fans and we met Chris and his son at a home fan’s pub, where we enjoyed some good banter washed down with a our cold drinks.
Three sides of Oakwell were re-developed in the 1990's. We sat in the big two tiered East stand which runs the length of the pitch. It was opened in March 1993. The oldest stand is the West stand which is similar to Birmingham City's Main Stand. The stand dates back to 1904 and was made all-seater in the 90's. The Pontefract Road End and the North stand which is where the Away supporters are allocated are both very similar stands at opposite ends of the ground. The re-development of the ground finished in 1999.

Leicester created the better chances in a tight game and scored the only goal, a Matty Fryatt shot deflected home by Tykes defender Neil Austin.
The winning outcome for City meant both sides were celebrating survival at full time, while a few junctions up the motorway, Leeds United’s home defeat to Ipswich Town saw the Yorkshire giants relegated.
Leicester had endured another ordinary season but caretaker manager Nigel Worthington had managed to galvanise the squad and achieved what Milan Mandaric had brought him in for.
We made a decent exit following the game beating out of town the City supporter’s coaches and I was back in Coalville for approx 6:20pm