Barnsley turned recent and long term form on its head as they secured only their sixth home in 27 League One games by thrashing a side that they had failed to beat at Oakwell in their last eight league meetings stretching back to the Premier League season.
This was Barnsley's joint biggest win of the League One season (along with the two 3-0 victories against Crawley) however it is the second time they have netted four goals at home in the league in 2024-2025, one more occasion than they managed last season.
The victory was secured by both Jon Russell and Fabio Jalo netting braces, the first time two Barnsley players have netted more than once in the same match since a 4-2 Football League Trophy win at Doncaster in October 2022 when Jalo also scored a brace along with Josh Martin. It is the first time in a league match for 25 years when Lee Jones and Neil Shipperley netted twice each in a 4-1 win over West Brom in the second tier in August 2000.
It is the first time either Russell or Jalo have scored league braces in their careers.
Some player has scored a brace in each of Barnsley’s last two games (Alfie May for Birmingham and then Jon Russell and Fabio Jalo for Barnsley) the first time this has occurred since John McAtee scored two in a 3-1 Barnsley win at Burton on the 1st April 2024 and then May scored two in a 2-1 Charlton win on the 6th April 2024.
Unfortunately the Reds couldn't keep a clean sheet, and have now gone 10 league games without one, their joint longest run in League One this season.
Bolton's consolation came via Aaron Collins, the second successive season he has netted against the Reds having scored in the play-off semi-final second leg in May 2024.
Bolton become the fourth team Barnsley have completed a league double over in 2024-2025 after Crawley, Rotherham and Lincoln, the exact same as last season.
50% of their league doubles this season have seen them win 2-1 in the away fixture and score four in the home fixture.
The returning Josh Earl who made his first appearance since the 4th March bagged two assists, the first Red to do this in a league game since Adam Phillips at Fleetwood in February 2024.
Davis Keillor-Dunn put another assist to his name, he now has had a direct goal involvement in four successive games (2 goals, 2 assists) and five in the last six games (2 goals, 3 assists)
The fourth from Russell brought up 60 league goals for the season, the latest in a third tier season it has taken to bring up this milestone since 2014-2015 when they had only scored 55 goals after 42 games.
It also means there have been 80 second half goals scored in Barnsley league games this season – also double the amount as in the first half (44)
Bolton’s goal was their only shot on target, the second time Barnsley have conceded from their opponent’s only shot on target this season (also 1-0 defeat to Wigan on the 23rd November 2024)
Barnsley have now won three successive meetings with Bolton for the first time since the 1980s.
This victory finally put to bed an Oakwell hoodoo against the Trotters, although they did defeat them in the home leg of the play-offs in 2023 this was the first league victory against them at Oakwell for nine meetings (D4 L4) – it had last occurred in the famous Premier League season when the Reds won 2-1 in August 1997 – their first ever top flight home victory.
This was Barnsley’s joint biggest margin of victory against Bolton however the first time they have ever netted as many as four goals against them in one match.
The Reds have now lost only one of the last eight meetings in all competitions (W4 D3) which came in last season’s Oakwell leg of the play-offs.
In only one of the last eight meetings has either side managed to keep a clean sheet which was Barnsley in that 1-0 Oakwell play-off victory in May 2023, there has been a total of 25 goals scored in those eight clashes.
Barnsley Team:
51. Kieran Flavell
30. Jonathan Bland
4. Marc Roberts
21. Conor McCarthy
32. Josh Earl
8. Adam Phillips
48. Luca Connell
3. Jon Russell
11. Fabio Jalo
40. Davis Keillor-Dunn
44. Stephen Humphrys
Substitutes:
7. Corey O’Keeffe (for Humphrys 67)
20. Dexter Lembikisa (for Earl 87)
2. Barry Cotter (for Jalo 90+1)
Unused Substitutes:
27. Adam Hayton, 50. Kelechi Nwakali, 14. Jonathan Lewis, 33. Clement Rodrigues.
Bolton Team:
1. Nathan Baxter
21. Chris Forino
5. Ricardo Santos
6. George Johnston
12. Josh Dacres-Cogley
8. Josh Sheehan
4. George Thomason
14. Jordi Osei-Tutu
16. Aaron Morley
19. Aaron Collins
45. John McAtee
Substitutions:
2. Gethin Jones (for Dacres-Cogley 38)
3. Alex Murphy (for Johnston 39)
28. Jay Matete (for Morley 41)
22. Kyle Dempsey (for Sheehan 45)
17. Klaidi Lolos (for Santos 67)
Unused Substitutes:
20. Luke Southwood, 7. Carlos Gomes.
Sky Bet League One Results:
Wigan Athletic (17th) 0-0 Wrexham (2nd)
Wycombe Wanderers (3rd) 1-0 Stevenage (14th)
Taylor 90+1
BARNSLEY (11th) 4-1 Bolton Wanderers (8th)
Russell 15
Jalo 25
Jalo 71
Collins 74
Russell 86
Bristol Rovers (21st) 1-2 Exeter City (15th)
Watts 11
Cole 42
Sotiriou 70
Burton Albion (20th) 3-0 Huddersfield Town (9th)
Burrell 9
Larsson 45
Burrell 55
Cambridge United (23rd) 0-1 Charlton Athletic (5th)
Campbell 14
Crawley Town (22nd) 1-3 Leyton Orient (7th)
Junior Quitirna pen 49
Kelman 52
Kelman pen 53
Donley 90+2
Lincoln City (12th) 1-1 Shrewsbury Town (24th)
Bayliss 4
Pierre 23
Northampton Town (19th) 0-0 Reading (6th)
Stockport County (4th) 3-1 Rotherham United (13th)
Wilks 9
Diamond 42
Hills 60
Wootton 73
Barnsley lie in 11th place in Sky Bet League One with 57 points from 42 games. We are 12 points off the Play-Offs, 25 points off the Automatic Promotion Places, 38 points off First Place and 15 points above the Relegation Zone.
Up to 14/4/25
Next Up:
On The Road:
Sky Bet League One Matchday Forty Three: Leyton Orient v Barnsley, Friday 18th April 2025. Kick Off: 3pm
At Oakwell:
Sky Bet League One Matchday Forty Four: Barnsley v Peterborough United, Monday 21st April 2025. Kick Off: 3pm