Following successive seasons of opening league campaigns with a win, Barnsley sit on zero points following Matchday one for the sixth time in eight seasons, three of which have come at Oakwell.
It means Daniel Stendel is the only Barnsley manager of the last six to start a league campaign in the hot-seat to win an opening day game (doing it on two occasions) – Keith Hill in 2012-2013 is the last.
Barnsley have failed to win any of their past three first games of September at this level.
The Reds have now conceded the opening goal against Luton in three successive meetings.
The Hatters have now won on four of their last five visits to Oakwell and five of the last seven. Prior to this Barnsley were unbeaten in 12 Oakwell meetings and had won 11!
A Barnsley opening league game was goal-less at half time for the first time since 2016-2017 (Six second half goals were then scored in that match!)
The opening two games of a Barnsley season have been goal-less at half time (all comps) for the first time since 2011-2012.
Three of Barnsley’s last four matches have been 0-0 at the break and four of the last six.
Barnsley have managed only six goals in their last seven matches and netted more than once in only two of their last 15.
Each of the last NINE games played at Oakwell have been 0-0 at the break.
James Collins scored the all important goal, the third successive Barnsley-Luton Oakwell meeting he has scored in (a total of four goals)
Cauley Woodrow was booked just seven minutes into the game, the earliest Barnsley yellow card since Andy Yiadom was booked after just four minutes at Fulham in December 2017.
Barnsley have now failed to win any of their last 58 Championship matches in which they have conceded the first goal, (D12 L46) since defeating Leeds 3-2 three years ago (21st January 2017)
Barnsley managed only one shot on target, their lowest amount at Oakwell since having one against Cardiff in the last game before lockdown.
Luton also only managed one shot on target – which they scored from, meaning only two shots on target were achieved in the game, the lowest amount since the FA Cup game at Burnley in January 2019 (also 2) and the lowest in a league game since Wolves at home in January 2018 (also 2)
Barnsley Team:
1 Jack Walton
26. Michael Sollbauer
6. Mads Andersen
2. Jordan Williams
14. Kilian Ludewig
27. Alex Mowatt
4. Callum Styles
17. Marcel Ritzmaier
9. Cauley Woodrow
23. Elliot Simoes
11. Conor Chaplin
Substitutes:
28. Dominik Frieser (for Simoes 52)
21. Romal Palmer (for Ritzmaier 58)
19. Patrick Schmidt (for Chaplin 78)
Unused Substitutes:
40. Brad Collins, 16. Luke Thomas, 30. Michal Helik, 29. Victor Adeboyejo.
Luton Team:
12. Simon Sluga
24. Rhys Norrington-Davies
5. Sonny Bradley
6. Matty Pearson
2. Martin Cranie
16. Glen Rea
17. Pelly Ruddock
8. Luke Berry
10. Elliot Lee
19. James Collins
7. Harry Cornick
Substitutions:
25. Kazenga LuaLua (for Lee 62)
26. James Bree (for Cornick 81)
9. Danny Hylton (for Collins 90+1)
Unused Substitutes:
14. George Moncur, 1. James Shea, 18. Jordan Clark, 4. Ryan Tunnicliffe.
Luton manager Nathan Jones said:
"Apart from their chance, it's about as good an away performance as you're likely to see in terms of solidity, in terms of what we did and the way we pressed.
"We organised very well and limited them to very little. We just lacked a little bit of quality in the final third.
"If we did then we would have had more chances, but when you've got a goalscorer like James Collins, you get opportunities and he puts them away."
Sky Bet Championship results
FRIDAY 11TH SEPTEMBER 2020
Watford (10th) 1-0 Middlesbrough (18th)
Cathcart 11
SATURDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER 2020
Birmingham City (5th) 1-0 Brentford (16th)
Bela 37
Wycombe Wanderers (20th) 0-1 Rotherham United (8th)
Ihiekwe 90+2
BARNSLEY (15th) 0-1 Luton Town (6th)
Collins 71
AFC Bournemouth (3rd) 3-2 Blackburn Rovers (13th)
Stacey 25
Johnson 42
Lerma 53
Armstrong 73
Groeneveld 84
Bristol City (4th) 2-1 Coventry City (14th)
Paterson 1
Godden 33
Kalas 82
Cardiff City (21st) 0-2 Sheffield Wednesday (24th)
Windass 4
Rhodes 44
Derby County (22nd) 0-2 Reading (2nd)
Joao 40
Ejaria 45+1
Huddersfield Town (17th) 0-1 Norwich City (7th)
Idah 80
Millwall (11th) 0-0 Stoke City (12th)
Preston North End (19th) 0-1 Swansea City (9th)
Gibbs-White 53
Queens Park Rangers (1st) 2-0 Nottingham Forest (23rd)
Dykes pen 54
Chair 90+4
Barnsley lie in 15th place in the Sky Bet Championship with 0 points from 1 game. We are 3 points off the Play-Offs, 3 points off the Automatic Promotion Places, 3 points off First Place and 1 goal above the Relegation Zone.
Up to 13/9/20
Next Up:
On The Road:
Carabao Cup Second Round: Middlesbrough v Barnsley, Tuesday 15th September 2020. Kick-Off: 6pm.
At Oakwell:
Sky Bet Championship Matchday Three: Barnsley v Coventry City, Saturday 26th September 2020. Kick-Off: 3pm