This simply won’t do

TOUGH GOING . . . Dominic Poleon struggles to shake off his marker.

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Athletic 1 Barnsley 2

WILL hell have frozen over by the time Athletic next manage to win at home in the league?

If so, let's hope there are no football pitches down there for Athletic's worst sinners.

Because based on this performance – in a game played out on the sort of frost-topped surface that would have uncovered pitch enthusiast Geoffrey Boycott purring – they wouldn't be able to handle it.

Too little fire in the belly is the most obvious accusation. Up against a former manager in Lee Johnson, this was insipid from the off.

Up against a team which had lost eight straight matches in League One and on the back of two straight victories of their own, you may have thought Athletic would have been all-out guts and thunder from the off and borrowing kitchen sinks to chuck at the opposition.

But no. A flick back through the records of the season shows that still, three months and a week after squeaking to a fortuitous victory against Fleetwood on August 15, Athletic have been unable to produce a further three points at SportsDirect.com Park.

Despite being ordinary at best in the first half, Athletic at least showed some sense of urgency after the break.

Trailing 1-0 to a smart Conor Hourihane strike which passed Joel Coleman with a slight deflection, Barnsley had hit the post through Adam Hammill and crossbar through Ivan Toney before the latter player blazed wide when well-placed in the 77th minute.

Cameron Dummigan – Athletic's best player by a distance with his drive and composure – had also by then performed his party trick by blocking one on the line, also going close in the first half with a shot saved by the legs of Adam Davies after a neat give-and-go with Giorgio Rasulo.

Rasulo was off the field when Mark Yeates produced the equaliser. Racing infield and playing a return pass with Dominic Poleon, the winger hit a shot which just about passed through the legs of Davies and trickled over the line.

With substitute Jay Fulton on the pitch and producing some moments of real promise, the stage was set for a blockbusting period of red-hot action in which Athletic would go on to win.

It didn't quite happen that way. A simple diagonal punt from the halfway line by George Smith caught Liam Kelly under the ball. Simeon Jackson reacted quickest to poke at goal, Coleman spilled and centre-back Kevin Long fired in.

Returning manager Lee Johnson was spared a hard-luck story to tell.

Some incidents went against Athletic. Yeates felt he was tripped in the box by James Bree in the first half and local boy Ben Pearson was perhaps fortunate to stay on the pitch after scything down Kelly. He only got a yellow card, in an incident which then saw James Wilson pile in to stop Long from hauling up Kelly.

It was as high a passion point as Athletic reached all game.

David Dunn kept faith with most of the side that had seen off Mansfield with some

comfort in the FA Cup replay four days earlier.

Dummigan returned in place of Richard Eckersley at right-back and Rasulo was in from the start at the expense of Michael Higdon, in a 4-4-1-1

formation which had helped to produce all four of Athletic's goal in the previous two outings.

It was soon obvious that either the shape or the work-rate was lacking. The Tykes were first to every loose ball and were soon creating plenty of chances, with Marley Watkins particularly lively.

On the touchline, Johnson was on the end of some expected catcalls nine months on from his still controversial exit, but aside from an early Poleon half-chance on the break which Davies raced out to block with his head, his main issue concerned some curious interpretations of the rules by the match officials.

Barnsley played the slightly hard surface the better, winning their challenges and ensuring Athletic's dysfunctional attack led by Poleon barely managed a serious attempt in the opening 45 minutes. The closest they came was via a mix-up which almost led to Aidy White heading beyond his own goalkeeper, the ball drifting a few feet wide instead.

Territorially, Athletic started to enjoy the better of it after that and the terrific Dummigan almost made it 1-1, before Toney headed against the bar when unmarked after 63 minutes.

Hammill had taken a lick of paint off a post in the 14th minute, too.

Fulton saw his touch let him down in the box from a Higdon header when well placed, but after Toney flicked the

side-netting at the other end, Athletic levelled in the 78th minutes through Yeates.

Then came the punchline, along with that familiar sinking feeling.

Athletic manager Dunn preaches positivity and rightly so. On days like these, though, it's little wonder Athletic fans are moved to grumble. They deserve a lot more.