Relegating Barnsley the perfect revenge for Leeds TSS April 17, 2014 Leeds United 19 Comments 5-2 in 2010, 4-1 in 2011, 2-0 last season. Oakwell hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for Leeds United in recent years, but if The Whites can record their first win at Barnsley since November 1997, it could relegate our neighbours to the division below. A 2-1 win over 21st-placed Charlton in midweek restored Barnsley’s chance of survival, leaving them just 2 points behind the Addicks and 3 points behind 20th placed Blackpool, but they’ll still need a couple more wins to stand a chance of survival and need other results to go in their favour. If I was a Tykes fan, it’s the Seasiders I’d be pinning my hopes on. Beaten 2-0 by Leeds United last week, Blackpool are one of the worst teams we’ve played this season and their fixture list won’t be doing them any favours. Blackpool’s final four games start with a visit from promotion-chasing Burnley (2nd) this weekend before tough away fixtures against play-off hopefuls Brighton (7th) and Wigan (5th). They’ll finish on home soil with Charlton (21st) the visitors, a match they both might need to win to survive the drop. Barnsley have it a little easier. After the visit from Leeds this weekend, they’ll face Derby County (3rd) who should have secured a play-off place by then and will (in all likelihood) be too far behind the top two to challenge for the automatic spots. QPR (4th) will be in a similar position by the time Barnsley meet them on the final day too. They’ll both want to win to build momentum for the play-offs, but there are no real consequences to defeat and that’s bound to affect their performance. But Barnsley’s best chance of scoring points comes at home to Leeds United and away to Middlesbrough (12th) since neither team has any hopes of promotion or fears of relegation. Barnsley need little encouragement to psych themselves up for a game against Leeds at the best of times, but with the added motivation a relegation battle provides, they’ll be more fired up than ever on Saturday. Leeds on the other hand have struggled to motivate themselves for the last four months and since Oakwell is a place where we usually fail to turn up, if I was to bet my savings on this fixture, I wouldn’t be backing Leeds. The only thing travelling Whites fans can pin their hopes to is the slim chance our players will want to fight for their contracts and start to make amends for the pathetic performances they’ve put in these last few months. Massimo Cellino sounds like he’s willing to give them all a chance, but they have just four more games to prove their worth before the summer cull begins. If Leeds can pull off the unthinkable at Barnsley, contributing to the relegation of our neighbours would be the perfect revenge for the humiliations we’ve suffered at Oakwell in recent years. More importantly, a win could leave us one less “bogey team” to worry about next season.