Barnsley are now on their longest winless league run of the season after yet again losing a lead at home to this time fall to defeat to moneybags Birmingham City.
This extended the Reds winless league run to five games, their longest since failing to win any of the final six of 2023-2024 (excluding playoffs) and the first time they have suffered back to back league defeats since April when they had a pair of 3-2 losses to Portsmouth and Blackpool.
It is the fifth time Barnsley have gone 1-0 up at Oakwell in the league this season and failed to win (D4 L1)
Barnsley have lost a league match when 1-0 up for the first time since the aforementioned Portsmouth match on the 16th April and it is the first time at Oakwell since August 2023 when they lost 3-1 to Peterborough.
This result extends the torrid home record which now reads just two wins from the last 16 matches stretching back to March.
The start to 2024-2025 of just two wins from their opening 10 home league games is their worst since 2019-2020 in the Championship (also 2 of 10) and their worst at this level since 1971-1972 (also 2 of 10)
Barnsley took the lead due to an own goal, the first time they have benefited from this route since the 23rd January when a Sean Long own goal proved to be the only goal and winner for the Reds at Oxford.
Barnsley finished with ten men following Adam Phillips second red card in a Barnsley shirt (the other being the play-off final against Sheffield Wednesday in May 2023), it is the Reds third of the season already however first in the league with the other two coming in the EFL Trophy.
Barnsley have lost all three games this season when down to ten men however this was the first league game they have lost following a sending off in five (excluding playoffs) - W3 D1 L1.
Jay Stansfield (who cost the Blues a reported £10m this summer) got both Birmingham goals, the second Oakwell game in a row in which an opposition player has netted a brace following Sam Smith for Reading.
Stansfield has now netted five goals in just three appearances against Barnsley with this his second brace against them having also done so at Oakwell for Exeter in October 2022.
It is the 15th time in 27 games so far this season in all competitions that at least one team has netted exactly two goals.
Conor McCarthy came on after 55 minutes for his first league appearance for Barnsley since 24th September 2022 but had to be replaced after 77minutes, the second time this season a sub has been subbed (also Fabio Jalo at Burton in September, subbed on after 60 minutes and off after 83)
Luca Connell picked up his ninth yellow card of the season from just 27 appearances which means he has been booked in a third of the games he has played in 2024-2025.
This one after just 15 minutes is Barnsley's third earliest of the season, beaten only by Donovan Pines after 13 minutes at Crawley and Josh Earl after three minutes at Burton.
The 15,367 in attendance was the biggest Oakwell crowd of 2024-2025 and highest since 18,332 saw the Reds beat Derby 2-1 on the 24th February.
Barnsley have lost both of their last two meetings with Birmingham and have won only two of the last seven (W2 D1 L4)
Three of the last five clashes have finished 2-1 to one team with Birmingham winning the last two meetings by this scoreline.
The home team have scored one goal in four of the last five meetings.
Birmingham have lost only one of their last four visits to Oakwell, winning two, and have only lost two of their last 10 visits, winning five.
Barnsley have scored more than once in only two of the last 12 Oakwell meetings.
There were only 13 shots in the game, the lowest in a Barnsley match in 2024-2025 and lowest since February 2022 when there were only 10 in a match at Peterborough.
There has though been a total of nine shots on target in three of Barnsley’s last four matches.
Barnsley Team:
23. Ben Killip
6. Mael de Gevigney
4. Marc Roberts
5. Donovan Pines
7. Corey O’Keeffe
8. Adam Phillips
48. Luca Connell
3. Jon Russell
17. Georgie Gent
44. Stephen Humphrys
40. Davis Keillor-Dunn
Substitutes:
21. Conor McCarthy (for Roberts 51)
50. Kelechi Nwakali (for McCarthy 77)
9. Sam Cosgrove (for Keillor-Dunn 77)
2. Barry Cotter (for O’Keeffe 78)
15. Kyran Lofthouse (for Humphrys 90+1)
Unused Substitutes:
12. Jackson Smith, 18. Matthew Craig.
Birmingham Team:
21. Ryan Allsop
6. Krystian Bielik
4. Christoph Klarer
25. Ben Davies
2. Ethan Laird
24. Tomoki Iwata
13. Paik Seung-Ho
20. Alex Cochrane
26. Luke Harris
28. Jay Stansfield
9. Alfie May
Substitutions:
19. Taylor Gardner-Hickman (for Cochrane 6)
10. Lukas Jutkiewicz (for Harris 45)
12. Marc Leonard (for May 61)
Unused Substitutes:
45. Bailey Peacock-Farrell, 5. Dion Sanderson, 27. Brandon Khela, 33. Ayumu Yokoyama.
Sky Bet League One Results:
Lincoln City (9th) 0-0 Charlton Athletic (12th)
BARNSLEY (8th) 1-2 Birmingham City (3rd)
Paik Seung-Ho og 58
Stansfield 60
Stansfield 79
Wigan Athletic (19th) 0-2 Leyton Orient (16th)
Sweeney 41
Jaiyesimi 90+2
Burton Albion (23rd) 0-1 Wrexham (2nd)
Lee 65
Cambridge United (22nd) 4-1 Shrewsbury Town (24th)
Lavery 1
Lavery 30
Nlundulu 46
Kachunga 53
Marquis pen 70
Mansfield Town (10th) 1-2 Huddersfield Town (4th)
Wiles 8
Oshilaja 31
Koroma 33
Stockport County (5th) 2-0 Exeter City (11th)
Crama og 67
Barry pen 89
Wycombe Wanderers (1st) 1-1 Reading (6th)
Lubala 18
Knibbs 30
Monday 9th December 2024:
Northampton Town (17th) 2-1 Peterborough United (15th)
McGeehan 28
Mothersille 39
McGeehan 84
Barnsley lie in 8th place in Sky Bet League One with 27 points from 19 games. We are 4 points off the Play-Offs, 13 points off the Automatic Promotion Places, 13 points off First Place and 8 points above the Relegation Zone.
Up to 10/12/24
Next Up:
On The Road:
Sky Bet League One Matchday Twenty: Exeter City v Barnsley, Saturday 14th December 2024. Kick Off: 3pm
At Oakwell:
Sky Bet League One Matchday Twenty One: Barnsley v Leyton Orient, Saturday 21st December 2024. Kick Off: 3pm