An incredible end to an unbelievable season sees Barnsley add the League One play-off trophy and PROMOTION to the Johnstones Paint Trophy they collected last month at Wembley.
The Reds have travelled to the national stadium four times; they lost the first two but have won the next two.
They led at half time at Wembley for the first time, on the three previous visits they had been trailing twice and drawing once.
Barnsley are the FIRST club in Football League history to lose eight successive games and win promotion in the same season. The last time they lost eight in a row, 56 years ago, they were relegated.
Ashley Fletcher and Adam Hammill have scored in both Wembley trips this season with Hammill bagging two screamers. Incredibly both have scored in the Johnstones Paint Trophy Final, Play-Off Semi-Finals and Final whilst Fletcher also scored in the JPT Northern Final tie with Fleetwood.
Barnsley are the first team to do a Football League Trophy and Play-Off double since Grimsby Town in 1997-1998- when Barnsley were a Premier League outfit- who defeated Bournemouth 2-1 to scoop the cup and then beat Northampton 1-0 in the play-off final to win promotion to the second tier after finishing the season in third position.
However it is the second successive season that the JPT winners have gone on to win promotion as Bristol City added the League One title to it last year.
Barnsley win promotion two years after their relegation from the Championship, it is the shortest amount of time they have spent in a Football League division since 1981 when they won promotion to the second tier after just two in the third following promotion from the fourth in 1979.
Paul Heckingbottom is only the second ever person to win promotion with Barnsley both as a player and then as a manager, following in the footsteps of Johnny Steele who played for the club in their Third Division North title success in 1938-1939 and then managed the club when they finished second in the Fourth Division in 1967-1968.
Barnsley have been in lethal form in the play-offs scoring nine times in the three matches and winning every game. It is the most a team has EVER scored in the third tier Play-Offs.
They actually scored 13 goals to book their spot in the Championship- the last four matches seeing four (to get in the playoffs) and then three, three, three. The Reds only failed to score in two of their final 12 games in all competitions.
Barnsley finished the season with a staggering record away from Oakwell. Prior to 2016 Barnsley lost eight of their 16 away matches in all competitions this season but since the turn of the year they lost just ONE of 16 and that was the first one at Gillingham.
Overall Barnsley finished the season unbeaten in nine matches (six wins) and lost just three of 29 in all competitions in 2016.
Barnsley won promotion to the Championship after finishing the season in the final play-off position, they are the first sixth placed side to go on and win promotion since Scunthorpe in 2008-2009. They are also the first sixth placed side to even reach the final since then.
Ashley Fletcher’s second minute strike is the joint quickest Play-Off Final goal in the third tier, matching Steve White’s goal for Swindon in the very first edition of the play-offs in 1987. Back then though the final was played over two legs and because the tie with Gillingham ended level, White’s second minute goal was scored in the replay. Therefore in terms of original ties, Fletcher’s effort is the fastest EVER in the third tier playoff final.
Barnsley finish the season with the same score-line that they started it with- 3-1, albeit one was a defeat, at Chesterfield. It is the first time they have started and finished the season with the same score since 2011-2012 when they started and finished with goal-less draws.
Just to make this season even more incredible than it already is, NO player appeared for the club who was over the age of 28! Simeon Jackson was the oldest to appear for the Reds.
This season has been the year of the B. Three teams have won promotion in 2015-2016 whose names start with that letter- Burnley, Burton and Barnsley.
Ivan Toney replaced Ashley Fletcher at Wembley, one replaced the other on SEVEN occasions this season.
Barnsley led at half-time in each of their final four matches, prior to this they had held an interval lead just once in seven.
Barnsley had 16 shots on goal and six on target, the joint most on play-off final weekend along with League Two victors AFC Wimbledon.
51,277 attended the 2015-2016 League One Play-Off final- the highest for this game in four years but 6,679 less than in the League Two showpiece 24 hours later.
Barnsley Team:
Adam Davies
Josh Scowen
Marc Roberts (YC)
Alfie Mawson
George Williams (YC)
Adam Hammill
Josh Brownhill
Conor Hourihane
Lloyd Isgrove
Ashley Fletcher
Sam Winnall
Substitutes:
Ivan Toney (for Fletcher 81)
Marley Watkins (for Isgrove 85)
Unused Substitutes:
Nick Townsend, Lewin Nyatanga, Aidy White, Jak McCourt, Harry White.
Match Reports:
Sky Bet Play-Off Final results:
Saturday 28th May 2016:
Hull 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday
Diame 72
Sunday 29th May 2016:
Barnsley 3-1 Millwall
Fletcher 2 Beevers 34
Hammill 19
Isgrove 74
Monday 30th May 2016:
AFC Wimbledon 2-0 Plymouth
Taylor 78
Akinfenwa 90+11 pen
Next Up:
CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!