A brace from new signing Ike Ugbo sealed only Barnsley’s second victory of the summer with a 2-0 victory against former manager Keith Hill and Rochdale.
After a late home defeat to Huddersfield on Saturday The Reds headed to the Crown Oil Arena looking to bounce back but the League One outfit had the better of the opening half, forcing a number of fine saves from goalkeeper Nick Townsend, who is looking to push his claims for the 2017-2018 season after failing to appear in a competitive match for Barnsley since October 2015. His best save came after 16 minutes when he made a stunning one-handed effort to beat away a 30 yard effort from Callum Camps.
The end to the first half turned sour for The Reds when Liam Lindsay was forced off after struggling for a few minutes and he was replaced by Ethan Pinnock.
Barnsley were much improved after the break after making four changes during half time and they took the lead with just over 20 minutes remaining. Adam Hammill sprayed the ball across the park and after neat play from Andy Yiadom and George Moncur the ball was worked to Lloyd Isgrove who whipped in a cross that Tom Bradshaw headed goalwards, Rochdale keeper Josh Lillis could only parry it out and there was Ugbo lurking to force it over the line.
The Chelsea loanee’s second effort right at the death was much better quality as he was played through by Moncur and he rounded Lillis before slotting home.
Ironically Barnsley’s two pre-season wins have come against former managers with their other success being against Mark Robins’ Coventry. The Reds have one more friendly to come now, at Rotherham United on Saturday.
Barnsley team:
Nick Townsend
Jason McCarthy
Adam Jackson
Liam Lindsay
Zeki Fryers
Adam Hammill
Sessi D’Almedia
Joe Williams
Lloyd Isgrove
Jacob Brown
Tom Bradshaw
Substitutions:
Ethan Pinnock (for Lindsay)
Andy Yiadom (for Jackson)
Angus MacDonald (for Fryers)
Ike Ugbo (for Brown)
George Moncur (for D’Almedia)
Alex Mowatt (for Williams)
Ben Williams (for McCarthy)
Stevie Mallan (for Isgrove)
Unused substitutions:
Adam Davies, Stefan Payne.