Barnsley kept their 100% home record intact with a comprehensive victory against newly promoted Bristol Rovers.
It is the first time the Reds have won their opening two home league games of a season since 2016-2017 when they won their first three.
However it is the first time they have won both their opening two home league games without conceding a goal since 2012-2013.
This 3-0 victory was Barnsley’s biggest league win since October 2020 when they defeated QPR 3-0 in the Championship.
Devante Cole opened the scoring after just three minutes, Barnsley’s earliest goal since April 2021 when Carlton Morris scored after two minutes against Rotherham.
It was Cole’s first league goal for Barnsley in 23 appearances since netting against Sheffield United in October 2021.
Barnsley had gone four matches in all competitions without scoring a first half goal prior to this and had netted only one in 11 and then scored twice in the opening 13 minutes here – the earliest they have been 2-0 up in a match since April 2017 when they led 2-0 at Blackburn after 10 minutes.
It is the first time Barnsley have scored more than once in a match in 14 outings (all comps) since defeating another Bristol outfit – Bristol City – in March.
Josh Benson wrapped up the points by scoring for the third successive game, the first Barnsley player to do this since Aaron Leya Iseka in October/November 2021.
Benson has been involved in four goals in his last three appearances (scored 3 assisted 1) and against Rovers became the first Red to score and assist in the same game since Amine Bassi against Middlesbrough in February.
Barnsley have had no players booked in their opening two home matches of a season for the first time since their last League One campaign – 2018-2019.
Barnsley are now unbeaten in 29 home league games in League One (including play-offs) last losing in front of their own supporters in the third tier against Chesterfield – who are now non-league – in April 2016 (W20 D9) They won three and drew one of their final four home matches in 2015-2016 which included the play-off home leg against Walsall and then went unbeaten throughout the whole home league campaign in 2018-2019, winning 15 and drawing eight.
This is the first season Barnsley have won their opening two home league matches and lost their opening two away league matches since 2016-2017.
Barnsley have now won five of their last six meetings with Bristol Rovers (L1) and have lost only one of the last seven.
Remarkably those five wins have seen Barnsley score 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 winning 5-1, 2-1, 4-1, 1-0 and 3-0.
The Reds have won the last four Oakwell meetings and have lost only one of the last seven.
Devante Cole’s opener was Barnsley’s 50th goal against Bristol Rovers.
Barnsley had 47% ball possession, seven of their last eight league victories have come with them having less than 50% possession including all six in 2021-2022 – the one exception being the 1-0 victory over Cheltenham.
Bristol Rovers are the first opponents to fail to have a shot on target against Barnsley since Birmingham in March 2021.
Barnsley Team:
40. Brad Collins
2. Jordan Williams
4. Callum Styles
5. Liam Kitching
6. Mads Andersen
10. Josh Benson
16. Luke Thomas
24. Robbie Cundy
27. Jack Aitchison
44. Devante Cole
48. Luca Connell
Substitutes:
9. James Norwood (for Aitchison 62)
21. Conor McCarthy (for Williams 74)
33. Matty Wolfe (for Thomas 74)
19. Aiden Marsh (for Cole 83)
Unused Substitutes:
1. Jack Walton, 22. Clarke Oduor, 23. Will Hondermarck.
Bristol Rovers Team:
1 James Belshaw
2. James Connolly
3. Lewis Gordon
6. Sam Finley
9. John Marquis
10. Aaron Collins
15. Paul Coutts
19. Harry Anderson
21. Antony Evans
22. Harvey Saunders
30. Luca Hoole
Substitutions:
14. Jordan Rossiter (for Evans 45)
25. Glenn Whelan (for Coutts 45)
17. Lewis Gibson (for Gordon 45)
18. Ryan Loft (for Finley 67)
5. Alfie Kilgour (for Anderson 84)
Unused Substitutes:
32. Anssi Jaakkola, 34. Jerry Lawrence.
Bristol Rovers manager Joey Barton said:
"We’ve got no complaints, we were not good enough,"
"We were caught cold. I don’t know whether it was the deluge or whatever, but the lads were 1-0 down after three minutes.
"A shocking goal to give away and we didn’t really settle at all, doing some bizarre things in terms of managing the game and playing the conditions.
"They end up with a strike from distance that deflects and Belly’s got no chance, so they had a bit of fortune in there, but everything that could go wrong tonight seemed to go wrong.
"We were second best in every department and that is very rare for our boys. Usually, two or three of them will dig something out and force a performance but tonight we were really poor.
Match Reports:
Sky Bet League One Results
Tuesday 16th August 2022
BARNSLEY (9th) 3-0 Bristol Rovers (10th)
Cole 3
Williams 13
Benson 56
Bolton Wanderers (4th) 1-0 Morecambe (22nd)
Bradley 39
Burton Albion (24th) 0-1 Ipswich Town (1st)
Harness 60
Charlton Athletic (6th) 5-1 Plymouth Argyle (12th)
Rak-Sakyi 11
Stockley pen 41
Clare 45+3
Whittaker 71
Kirk 76
Leaburn 84
Exeter City (5th) 3-1 Wycombe Wanderers (20th)
Kite 22
Collins 38
Wheeler 50
Dieng 74
Fleetwood Town (15th) 0-0 Cheltenham Town (23rd)
Forest Green Rovers (17th) P-P Accrington Stanley (14th)
Milton Keynes Dons (21st) 2-1 Port Vale (18th)
Johnson 34
Johnson 85
Harrison 90+3
Oxford United (19th) 1-2 Lincoln City (11th)
Hopper 21
Scully 45+1
Brannagan pen 69
Peterborough United (2nd) 2-0 Sheffield Wednesday (8th)
Clarke-Harris 65
Taylor 75
Portsmouth (3rd) 4-1 Cambridge United (13th)
Ironside 30
Bishop 45+2
Curtis 60
Jacobs 70
Ogilvie 77
Shrewsbury Town (16th) 0-0 Derby County (7th)
Barnsley lie in 9th place in Sky Bet League One with 6 points from 4 games. We are 1 point off the Play-Offs, 3 points off the Automatic Promotion Places, 4 points off First Place and 3 points above the Relegation Zone.
Up to 17/08/22
Next Up:
At Oakwell:
Sky Bet League One Matchday Five: Barnsley v Wycombe Wanderers, Saturday 20th August 2022 Kick Off: 3pm
On The Road:
EFL Cup Second Round: Leeds United v Barnsley, Tuesday 23rd August 2022 Kick Off: 7:45pm