A
topsy-turvy game in which both teams led ended in a draw that does very little
to Barnsley’s hopes of moving up the table towards the play-off places.
It
is the first time the Reds have gone 1-0 down, then 2-1 up before finishing
with a 2-2 draw since the 25th November 2023 at Lincoln.
It
is Barnsley’s third 2-2 draw of the season – they have now drawn three games
2-2 and three games 1-1 in 2025-2026.
After
conceding the first goal for the 11th time in 23 league games this
season (48%) David McGoldrick brought the Reds level with his third goal in two
games and means he has netted in back to back games for the second time this
season after also doing so in the second and third game of the campaign against
Burton and Bolton.
It
was set up by Reyes Cleary, his ninth assist of the season, six more than any
other Barnsley player has managed this season. Nobody has managed more than
nine since Alex Mowatt in 2018-2019 who finished with 13.
Adam
Phillips then turned the game on its head by firing the Reds in front, the
third time in five meetings with the Royals in which he has netted.
It
was set up by McGoldrick, his second assist of the season both of which have
been for Phillips.
McGoldrick
is the third Barnsley player to both score and assist in the same game for
Barnsley this season after Davis Keillor-Dunn and Cleary.
This
was only the sixth point Barnsley have gained this season after falling 1-0
behind.
As
well as being the 11th time Barnsley have fallen 1-0 down in a
league game this season it is also the 11th time they have conceded
more than once - only two sides above
them in the table (14th Plymouth and 6th Huddersfield)
have conceded more than their 36 so far this season.
This
result means Barnsley have kept only two league clean sheets in 2025-2026 so
far, it is the first time they have kept so few shut-outs by the half way stage
of a season since 2013-2014 when the third didn’t arrive until the 25th
match and the first time at this level since 2002-2003 when it didn’t arrive
until the 28th.
Both
Corey O’Keeffe and Jack Shepherd were booked, the first time Barnsley have had
two defenders yellow carded in the same game for 14 matches (all comps) and the
first time two starting defenders have been for 16 matches.
Shepherd
came off after 22 minutes, the first opening half league change since the
opening day of the season at Plymouth when Marc Roberts came off after 43
minutes.
It’s
Barnsley’s earliest change in a game since the 5th April 2025 at
Birmingham when Max Watters was replaced after eight minutes.
DKD
is the first Barnsley substitute to be booked for nine outings (all comps),
last occurring at Peterborough on the 6th December when two subs
(Patrick Kelly and Luca Connell) were yellow carded.
It
was DKD’s third booking of the season and two have come against Reading.
As mentioned before this was
Barnsley’s 23rd league fixture which marks their halfway point of
the season. The 33 points gained at this point is their lowest in a third tier
season for a decade – they had only 24 at the halfway point of 2015-2016 but of
course went on to win promotion.
This is a fixture that guarantees
goals with 27 being scored in the last six meetings.
Both teams have netted at least
twice in each of the last five clashes with three of them finishing 2-2.
The away side has managed to
score at least twice in each of the last six meetings with Barnsley netting
four and three in that run.
The Reds are now unbeaten in
their last seven meetings with the Royals (W3 D4)
Barnsley are unbeaten in their
last three trips to Reading (W2 D1) which has followed a run of four successive
defeats there.
In those three visits Barnsley
scored three, four and two goals, this has followed a run of five trips where
they failed to score at all.
One team has netted at least twice
in each of the last three meetings in Berkshire and in nine of the last 11 with
the exceptions being a 0-0 draw in February 2017 and a 1-0 Reading win in
October 2021.
Barnsley had only 36.2% ball
possession, their lowest amount in nine league outings since they only had
31.3% against Luton - a game remarkably
Barnsley won 5-0.
Despite this being a match that
featured four goals there were only 13 shots in the match, the lowest in a Barnsley
match this season and lowest since December 2024 against Birmingham (also 13)
Only three of those shots came
from Barnsley (and they scored two goals from them) Barnsley’s lowest attempts
since October 2024 against Huddersfield in the EFL Trophy (1) whilst it their
lowest in a league match since their last Championship game – at West Brom in
May 2022 (also 3)
Barnsley Team:
1. Owen Goodman
7. Corey O’Keeffe
27. Tennai Watson
5. Jack Shepherd
15. Eoghan O’Connell
14. Nathanel Ogbeta
8. Adam Phillips
30. Jonathan Bland
22. Patrick Kelly
19. Reyes Cleary
10. David McGoldrick
Substitutes:
6. Mael de Gevigney (for Shepherd
22)
40. Davis Keillor-Dunn (for
McGoldrick 69)
45. Vimal Yoganathan (for
Phillips 80)
Unused
Substitutes:
51.
Kieren Flavell, 4. Marc Roberts, 20. Charlie Lennon, 39. Leo Farrell.
Reading Team:
1. Joel Pereira
17.
Andy Yiadom
15.
Paudie O’Connor
3.
Jeriel Dorsett
5.
Haydon Roberts
11.
Daniel Kyerewaa
10.
Lewis Wing
29.
Kamari Doyle
8.
Charlie Savage
32.
Paddy Lane
7.
Jack Marriott
Substitutions:
9. Kelvin Ehibhationham (for Lane
64)
24. Ryan Nyambe (for Yiadom 79)
30. Matt Ritchie (for Roberts 79)
27. Will Keane (for Doyle 79)
Unused Substitutes:
25. Jack Stevens, 12. Finley
Burns, 6. Liam Fraser.
League One Results
Thursday 22nd January
Lincoln City (2nd) 2-1 Burton Albion (20th)
Moylan 35
Beesley 37
Moylan 55
Saturday 24th January
Cardiff City (1st) 1-1 Stockport County (5th)
Wootton 10
Colwill 45+7
Huddersfield Town (4th) 1-0 Bradford City (6th)
Harness 23
Plymouth Argyle (14th) 1-0 Luton Town (7th)
Galloway 45+3
Blackpool (17th) 2-0 Northampton Town (21st)
Ashworth 3
Fletcher pen 50
Bolton Wanderers (3rd) 2-1 Leyton Orient (16th)
Gale 46
Archibald
49
Burstow 90+1 pen
Doncaster Rovers (22nd) 3-3 Wigan Athletic (19th)
Okoronkwo 7
McGrath 21
Clifton 49
Taylor
60
Wright
66
Moxon
87
Port Vale (24th) 1-3 Exeter City (10th)
Mendes Gomes 22
Wareham 47
Tutierov 59
Humphreys 75
Reading (13th) 2-2 BARNSLEY (15th)
Roberts 32
McGoldrick 38
Phillips 67
Marriott 84
Rotherham United (23rd) 1-1 AFC
Wimbledon (18th)
Jules 50
Browne
82
Stevenage (8th) 1-1 Mansfield Town (11th)
Akins pen 78
Campbell 90+6
Wycombe Wanderers (12th) 0-2 Peterborough United (9th)
Lisbie
37
Hayes
68
Barnsley lie in 15th
place in Sky Bet League One with 33 points from 23 games. We are 9 points off the
Play-Offs, 19 points off the Automatic Promotion Places, 23 points off First
Place and 4 points above the Relegation Zone.
Up to 25/1/26
Next Up:
On
The Road:
Sky Bet League One Matchday Twenty Four: Cardiff City v Barnsley, Tuesday 27th January 2026. Kick-Off: 7:45pm
At
Oakwell:
Sky Bet League One Matchday
Twenty Five: Barnsley v Stevenage, Saturday 31st January 2026.
Kick-Off: 3pm
