Championship Weekend Preview

Middlesbrough v Barnsley – Win or bust for Wilson’s Barnsley

It is black and white for Barnsley this weekend. Anything other than a win will see them all but relegated due to their inferior goal difference. In Middlesbrough they face a team with nothing to play for and that could be perfect for them.

Aitor Karanka was rightfully disappointed with the performance on Tuesday at the Madejski, especially after a similarly below par performance at home to Millwall last weekend. These 2 defeats the talk that some Boro fans had of gate crashing the play offs, but when Karanka took over the plan would have been to build some stability and mount a serious promotion challenged next season as this young squad gains more experience. The age old cliché of nothing to play for will be banded around, however this could suit the Boro players who will play freely and look to excite the Riverside fans on the final home game of the season.

6320Barnsley are in a bad place. They have missed a host of opportunities to pick up vital victories in the run-in, but seen them drift by with individual errors and penalty misses. 6 points from the final 2 weekend’s may not even be enough to save the Tykes who pulled off a miraculous escape last season. Danny Wilson will not be letting his players feel sorry for themselves though and this game that some would see as a meaningless clash will be fiery from start to finish. Chris O’Grady has had the weight of the side’s goalscoring threat on his shoulders all season and it seems to have just got too much for him after a long campaign. He will be looking to add to his tally 13 for the season in hope of a move away from Oakwell should the Tykes be relegated. O’Grady is this game’s key man.

Score prediction: 2-0 Middlesbrough win

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