Jingle bells. jingle bells, jingle all the way, oh what fun it is to see the Barnsley win away! Christmas cheer at the Den as the Reds finally win on the road in 2019-2020 and their first away Championship success since February 2018 (D3 L14) since a 2-0 win at Birmingham.
It is the longest Barnsley have waited for an away win in one season since 2001-2002 when they did not taste success on the road until Boxing Day.
It also gave Barnsley back to back Championship victories for the first time since November 2017 when they had won 4-2 at Burton and then defeated Birmingham 2-0 at Oakwell.
They had won only six Championship matches since then before this back-to-back run.
Barnsley have now won each of their last three league visits to the Den and four of the last five.
Three of those five victories have come via injury time winners with Patrick Schmidt (90+4) joining Marcus Tudgay in 2012 (90+3) and Lewin Nyatanga in 2015 (90+2) in scoring last gasp winners for Barnsley at the Den.
This result bears incredible resemblances to the 2012 triumph in that it occurred on the same weekend (22nd December 2012 v 21st December 2019), Barnsley took the lead between the 30th and 40th minutes (Stephen Dawson 31 v Conor Chaplin 39), Millwall equalised in the last ten minutes (Chris Wood 80 v Aiden O'Brien 85) and then the Reds won it in injury time.
Schmidt's goal is the latest Barnsley winner for three years since Ryan Williams scored after 90+5 in a 4-3 win at Cardiff in December 2016.
It is the first time Barnsley have ever won three league games in a row at Millwall.
Conor Chaplin continued his red hot scoring form by grabbing the opener, his seventh goal in seven games.
He now has eight goals in 22 games in 2019-2020 - equalling his total for Coventry in League One last season (from 33 games)
Chaplin has scored in three of Barnsley's four wins this season.
Jacob Brown set up Chaplin's goal, his fourth assist in three games. He is the first Barnsley player to provide an assist in three successive games since Conor Hourihane set up goals against Cardiff (4-3 win), Blackburn (2-0 win) and Birmingham (2-2 draw) in December 2016.
Barnsley opened the scoring for the tenth time this season but went on to win for only the fourth time.
Barnsley have opened the scoring in five successive Championship games for the first time since April 2017 (also 5)
Barnsley conceded their 46th league goal of the season, one behind Luton who have conceded the most in the Championship (47)
Barnsley have gone 17 games without a clean sheet, their longest run since a run of 20 between 3rd October 2015 and 9th January 2016 (4 Football League Trophy games, 1 FA Cup, 15 League One)
Barnsley managed to concede less than at least two goals in a game for only the eighth time in their 23 Championship matches this season.
Barnsley led at half time for only the fifth time this season, and have now won four of the occasions in which they have led at the break, drawing the other - at West Brom.
This was only the second time they have led at the break away from home, the other occasion was at the Hawthorns where they led 2-0 at half time but drew 2-2.
Schmidt's winner is the third goal scored by a substitute this season with the Austrian doing so on two occasions (also in the 4-2 defeat to Stoke) Chaplin is the only other substitute to score for the Reds in 2019-2020, doing so against Blackburn.
Gerhard Struber has made only 2 substitutions in six of his seven games in charge.
However the Austrian has now won three of those seven - in contrast Daniel Stendel won only one of 11 Championship games in charge, Jose Morais won three of 15 whilst Paul Heckingbottom won three of his final 17 Championship matches.
Barnsley are unbeaten in three successive Championship games (W2 D1) for the first time since January 2018 (W1 D2)
As we end the decade Barnsley have won their final away game before Christmas for the sixth time in the 2010s - two of which have come at Millwall.
Despite the victory Barnsley will be in the relegation zone at Christmas, the first time this has occurred since 2015 when of course they ended up winning promotion at the end of the campaign. It is their first Championship Christmas in the drop zone since 2013 when they were bottom on Christmas Day.
The Reds have 19 points at the halfway stage of the season (23 games) their lowest amount since that 2013-2014 season when they only had 16.
Barnsley conceded with the only shot on target that Millwall had, the THIRD time the Reds have conceded from their opponent's only effort on target this season (also Nottingham Forest and Hull)
Prior to this game Millwall were unbeaten in seven league games (W4 D3), - only Leeds (11) and West Brom (12) were on a longer such run amongst teams in the Championship in 2019-20. - both Millwall and Leeds lost their unbeaten runs this weekend.
Barnsley had six shots on target, their most on the road this season and most on the road in the Championship since January 2018 when they also had six at Aston Villa.
Barnsley Team:
1. Sami Radlinger
2. Jordan Williams
5. Bambo Diaby
6. Mads Andersen
7. Jacob Brown
9. Cauley Woodrow
10. Mike Bahre
11. Conor Chaplin
22. Clark Oduor
24. Aapo Halme
27. Alex Mowatt (C)
Substitutes:
16. Luke Thomas (for Bahre 72)
19. Patrick Schmidt (for Woodrow 84)
Unused Substitutes:
40. Brad Collins, 3. Ben Williams, 20. Callum Styles, 21. Toby Sibbick.
Millwall Team:
33. Bartosz Bialkowski
4. Shaun Hutchinson (c)
5. Jake Cooper
6. Shaun Williams
7. Jed Wallace
9. Tom Bradshaw
11. Shane Ferguson
12. Mahlon Romeo
16. Jayson Molumby
23. Jón Dadi Bödvarsson
26. Jiri Skalak
Substitutions:
22. Aiden O'Brien (for Skalak 60)
10. Matt Smith (for Bödvarsson 60)
21. Connor Mahoney (for Bradshaw 72)
Unused Substitutes:
2. Jason McCarthy, 14. Luke Steele, 17. James Brown, 42. Billy Mitchell.
Millwall manager Gary Rowett said:
"Yes I'm disappointed, obviously it's a frustrating performance. It was not as high as the standards we've set so far. If you look at the first 30 minutes I thought we were really comfortable, I thought we were the best team by far.
"In the second half we huffed and puffed, we didn't really go very far with any sort of precision. My frustration is, when you get back into the game in the 87th minute, you take the point.
"You're not happy with it but you keep the unbeaten run going."
Match Reports:
Sky Bet Championship results:
FRIDAY 20TH DECEMBER 2019
Middlesbrough (POS) 2-1 Stoke City
Clucas 53
Fletcher 57
Wing 71
SATURDAY 21ST DECEMBER 2019
Cardiff City (POS) 0-0 Preston North End
Fulham 2-1 Leeds United
Mitrovic pen 7
Bamford 59
Onomah 69
Huddersfield Town 2-1 Nottingham Forest
Schindler 32
Mounie 49
Worrall 74
Hull City 3-0 Birmingham City
Eaves 45+1
Grosicki 58
Lewis-Potter 88
Luton Town 0-1 Swansea City
Ayew 82
Millwall 1-2 BARNSLEY
Chaplin 39
O'Brien 85
Schmidt 90+4
Queens Park Rangers 2-2 Charlton Athletic
Cameron 6
Taylor 56
Pugh 70
Sarr 90+5
Reading 3-0 Derby County
Adam pen 5
Joao 58
Meite pen 86
West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Brentford
Dalsgaard 43
Furlong 45+1
SUNDAY 22ND DECEMBER 2019
Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Bristol City
Bannan pen 85
MONDAY 23RD DECEMBER 2019
Blackburn Rovers 0-0 Wigan Athletic
Barnsley lie in 22nd place in the Sky Bet Championship with 19 points from 23 games. We are 18 points outside the Play-Offs, 28 points outside the Automatic Promotion Places, 31 points outside First Place and 1 point inside the Relegation Zone.
Up to 24/12/19
Next Up:
At Oakwell:
Sky Bet Championship Matchday Twenty Four: Barnsley v West Bromwich Albion, Thursday 26th December 2019. Kick-Off: 3pm
On The Road:
Sky Bet Championship Matchday Twenty Five: Swansea City v Barnsley, Sunday 29th December 2019. Kick-Off: 3pm