Barnsley picked up their first league win for two months to move within four points of the playoffs as remarkably seven of the top eight teams in the division lost whereas 9th-15th all won.
The Reds hit the front in the South Yorkshire derby through Vimal Yoganathan who grabbed his first ever league goal for the club (to go alongside two in the EFL Trophy last season)
He was also shown a yellow card to become the fifth Barnsley player to both score and be booked this season after Davis Keillor-Dunn, Luca Connell, Adam Phillips and David McGoldrick.
Whilst this was Yoganathan’s first league goal and indeed the first ever in the EFL by a Tamil footballer the winner was netted by an all too familiar source – DKD grabbing his 10th goal of the season, the sixth successive season he has reached double figures and he is now halfway to his entire tally of 2024-2025.
This effort came after coming off the bench – the first of his 29 goals for the club to come this way with indeed this the first time he has come off the bench in a league game in his Barnsley career and only the second time in any competition (also v Manchester United Under 21s in the EFL Trophy this season)
A substitute has scored in successive away league games for the Reds following Patrick Kelly at Bradford – these are the only two league goals scored by substitutes in Barnsley’s last 21 league outings.
It is the eighth different game DKD has scored in this season (all comps) with Barnsley going on to win six (D1 L1) - whilst overall in his Reds career he has scored in 25 different matches with the Reds going on to win 17 (68%)
It is the first time this season a DKD goal has been the winner and it has only been on three occasions in his Reds career.
Remarkably all his goals this season have come in four separate back-back occasions, he is yet to score in just one match or three in a row.
This was Barnsley’s third away win of the League One campaign, only Stockport, Luton and Wimbledon (all with 4) have won more.
DKD’s winner was their 10th away league goal with only Stockport and Luton (both with 13) having scored more on their travels.
It is their 36th League One away win since relegation back to this tier in 2022, two more than they have managed at Oakwell.
This was Barnsley’s sixth league win of the season but the first they have won by scoring twice (four by scoring three and one by scoring once) – despite being such a common scoreline it is the first time the Reds have won a league match 2-1 since February at Northampton.
Barnsley have now kept only one clean sheet in their opening 19 games of a season (all comps) their worst start defensively since 2006-2007 when it took until the 21st game to achieve a second.
Barnsley have now lost only one of their last six meetings with Doncaster.
They have won successive games at Rovers (in two different competitions) prior to this they had failed to win in five trips.
Barnsley have won five of their last 10 trips to Doncaster, prior to this they had failed to win in 11.
This was only the third league game so far in which Barnsley have had less than 50% ball possession (also v Plymouth and Bolton)
There were only 16 fouls committed, the lowest in 29 Barnsley games since the 8th March v Blackpool (also 16)
Barnsley Team:
1 Murphy Cooper
27. Tennai Watson
4. Marc Roberts
5. Jack Shepherd
18. Jake Rooney
45. Vimal Yoganathan
30. Jonathan Bland
22. Patrick Kelly
48. Luca Connell
19. Reyes Cleary
10. David McGoldrick
Substitutes:
14. Nathanel Ogbeta (for Rooney 45)
40. Davis Keillor-Dunn (for McGoldrick 62)
23. Neil Farrugia (for Yoganathan 81)
Unused Substitutes:
51. Kieren Flavell, 3. Jon Russell, 7. Caylan Vickers, 31. Kieran Graham.
Doncaster Team:
29. Thimothee Lo-Tutala
27. Sean Grehan
12. Connor O’Riordan
5. Matthew Pearson
23. Jack Senior
7. Luke Molyneux
4. Owen Bailey
15. Harry Clifton
8. George Broadbent
11. Jordan Gibson
14. Billy Sharp
Substitutions:
16. Tom Nixon (for Grehan 45)
22. Robbie Gotts (for Clifton 73)
17. Glenn Middleton (for Gibson 73)
9. Brandon Hanlan (for Pearson 78)
Unused Substitutes:
1. Ian Lawlor, 6. Jay McGrath, 18. Charlie Crew.
League One Results
Thursday 6th November
Reading (17th) 1-0 Stevenage (5th)
Savage 4
Saturday 8th November
Northampton Town (13th) 2-1 Mansfield Town (8th)
Oates 18
Perkins 53
Eaves pen 74
Wycombe Wanderers (14th) 4-1 Leyton Orient (20th)
Onyedinma 4
Connolly pen 11
Onyedinma 16
Casey 30
Bell 75
Blackpool (21st) 3-1 Cardiff City (4th)
Fletcher 47
Fletcher 69
Bloxham 81
Salech 90+8
Bolton Wanderers (3rd) 4-0 Port Vale (23rd)
Cozier-Duberry 31
Simons 36
Cozier-Duberry 68
Dempsey 72
Bradford City (2nd) 1-2 Burton Albion (15th)
Beesley 41
Webster 45+1
Pointon pen 76
Doncaster Rovers (18th) 1-2 BARNSLEY (11th)
Yoganathan 33
Molyneux 38
Keillor-Dunn 68
Exeter City (19th) 1-1 Wigan Athletic (16th)
Wright 24
Wareham 53
Huddersfield Town (10th) 3-1 Plymouth Argyle (24th)
Radulovic 45
Charles 70
Ashia 85
Tolaj 88
Peterborough United (22nd) 5-0 AFC Wimbledon (7th)
Leonard 11
Leonard pen 16
Lisbie 36
Lindgren 77
Lindgren 90+3
Rotherham United (12th) 3-0 Lincoln City (6th)
James 10
Martha 31
Hall 59
Stockport County (1st) 0-3 Luton Town (9th)
Richards 34
Bramall 38
Jones 69
Barnsley lie in 11th place in Sky Bet League One with 21 points from 13 games. We are 4 points off the Play-Offs, 6 points off the Automatic Promotion Places, 7 points off First Place and 6 points above the Relegation Zone.
Up to 9/11/25
Next Up:
At Oakwell:
EFL Trophy: Barnsley v Lincoln City, Tuesday 11th November 2025. Kick-Off: 7pm
On The Road:
Sky Bet League One Matchday Fifteen: Stockport County v Barnsley, Saturday 29th November 2025. Kick-Off: 12:30pm
