Barnsley’s best EVER calendar month ended with a fifth win in six games and a total of 18 points gained in December – the most they have ever earned in a single month.
It is the first time they have won as many as five games in six since January/February 2019 in League One when they won six out of seven.
It is the first time at second tier level since August/September 2016 when after returning to the Championship and losing their first game at Ipswich the Reds won five of the next six, losing one.
The Reds were quick off the block at the New York Stadium with Cauley Woodrow grabbing his ninth goal of the campaign after just eight minutes, the earliest Barnsley have scored away from home since Elliot Simoes scored after seven minutes at QPR in the first game post lockdown in June.
Captain Alex Mowatt then scored another fantastic goal to make it 2-0 after 15 minutes, the first time Barnsley have held a 2-0 lead after a quarter of an hour since they led by this scoreline at Oakwell against Charlton after 14 minutes in December 2018.
It is however the first time they have led 2-0 after 15 minutes away from home in the Championship since April 2017 when they were 2-0 up after just 10 minutes at Blackburn.
After winning three out of four matches when conceding first it was Barnsley who broke the deadlock for only the second time in 10 matches.
The Reds are now unbeaten in their last 19 Championship games in which they have opened the scoring (W15 D4) last losing when breaking the deadlock at Cardiff in December 2019.
Barnsley have also now won each of their past five league matches when ahead at half time and indeed are unbeaten in each of their last 17 (W14 D3) since a 2-1 reverse at Bristol Rovers on the final day of 2018-2019.
Barnsley have won both their Boxing Day fixture and the match straight after at this level for the first time since 1999 when they won 3-0 at Grimsby and then 3-1 at home to Port Vale.
However at any level they are unbeaten in both of these fixtures for the last four years – winning both in League One in 2018.
Alex Mowatt both scored and assisted a goal for Barnsley for the first time since a 3-1 Oakwell win against Hull in November 2019. He is the first Barnsley player to both score and assist since Cauley Woodrow at Birmingham at the start of December.
This was the 16th different game that Mowatt has scored in for Barnsley and they are unbeaten in all but the very first one – at Bristol City in April 2017, winning 11 of the 15 since.
Meanwhile they have now won 22 of the 38 games in which Cauley Woodrow has scored (D10 L6)
This was Barnsley’s 10th league victory (from 22 games), it is the quickest they have reached double figures for league victories in the second tier since 1999-2000 when they won 12 of their first 22.
They have picked up four wins on the road their most in the second tier before New Years Eve since 2016-2017 (5)
This was Barnsley’s third Yorkshire derby win of the season, the same amount as in 2019-2020.
Barnsley will finish a calendar year 18 points above the relegation zone, the biggest gap at this time of year in this division since 1999-2000 (22 points)
This was the fourth time Barnsley have won back-back games this season, the most in a Championship campaign since 2016-2017 (5)
Michael Smith, who failed to net in 13 appearances for Barnsley during a four month loan spell from Swindon in 2015-2016 became the fourth ex Red to score against them this season following Adam Armstrong, Jack Hunt and Ivan Toney.
Valerien Ismael did not make his first change until the 74th minute the latest Barnsley have made their first substitution in seven matches.
Barnsley’s last six victories have all been achieved with both teams scoring, the first time this has happened since November 2011 – January 2012 (Leeds 2-1, Peterborough 4-3, Crystal Palace 2-1, Leeds 4-1, Leicester 2-1, Derby 3-2)
Each of Barnsley’s last NINE league victories when conceding have all finished 2-1 and indeed each of their last SIX Championship victories overall have been by this scoreline.
Barnsley have gone 15 league games without a draw (all under Ismael) (W10 L5) - prior to this they had drawn four out of five.
It is their longest run without a stalemate since a run of 17 between November 2014 and March 2015 (W10 L7)
Barnsley have now gone ten games without a clean sheet, their longest run in all competitions since a run of 18 between 15th September 2019 – 26th December 2019.
Barnsley are now unbeaten in 10 meetings with Rotherham (all comps) winning seven including the last three.
The Reds have only lost one of the last 15 clashes with the Millers, winning 11.
They have also won each of their last three games at Rotherham (1 at Millmoor and 2 at the New York Stadium) and have lost only one of the last eight, winning six.
Barnsley Team:
1 Jack Walton
6. Mads Andersen
30. Michal Helik
26. Michael Sollbauer
7. Callum Brittain
4. Callum Styles
32. Matty James
27. Alex Mowatt
28. Dominik Frieser
9. Cauley Woodrow
29. Victor Adeboyejo
Substitutes:
21. Romal Palmer (for James 74)
16. Luke Thomas (for Frieser 74)
34. Jasper Moon (for Mowatt 87)
Unused Substitutes:
18. Isaac Christie-Davies, 8. Herbie Kane, 31. Henry Kendrick, 25. George Miller, 22. Clarke Oduor, 19. Patrick Schmidt.
Rotherham Team:
1. Viktor Johansson
28. Florian Jozefzoon
19. Wes Harding
20. Michael Ihiekwe
22. Matthew Olosunde
8. Ben Wiles
16. Jamie Lindsay
26. Daniel Barlaser
6. Richard Wood
7. Kyle Vassell
10. Freddie Ladapo
Substitutions:
24. Michael Smith (for Jozefzoon 45)
9. George Hirst (for Vassell 65)
18. Trevor Clarke (for Wood 81)
Unused Substitutes:
27. Jamal Blackman, 14. Mickel Miller, 5. Adam Thompson.
Rotherham manager Paul Warne said:
"There's no way I'm going to knock them, I said to them at half-time 'your efforts are unbelievable'.
"We had players on the pitch tonight who hadn't even trained a day, and the majority of them have only trained twice in 11 day so we were going to be rusty and not as sharp as I would have liked or the lads would have liked.
"We put Smudge on for a bit more physical presence, and I thought we started the second half really well and apart from a chance they should have scored from, we possibly did enough to get a point."
Sky Bet Championship results
TUESDAY 29TH DECEMBER 2020
Birmingham City (18th) 0-4 Derby County (20th)
Bielik 15
Shinnie pen 17
Kazim-Richards 25
Knight 77
Sheffield Wednesday (22nd) 2-1 Middlesbrough (9th)
Paterson 30
Shaw 40
Watmore 49
Huddersfield Town (12th) 2-1 Blackburn Rovers (14th)
Naby-Sarr 53
Gallagher 86
Naby-Sarr 90
Luton Town (13th) 2-1 Bristol City (10th)
Rea 17
Bradley og 61
Dewsbury-Hall 68
Norwich City (1st) 1-1 Queens Park Rangers (19th)
Pukki pen 75
Osayi-Samuel pen 84
Preston North End (11th) 2-0 Coventry City (17th)
Johnson 18
Maguire 53
Rotherham United (23rd) 1-2 BARNSLEY (8th)
Woodrow 8
Mowatt 15
Smith 57
Wycombe Wanderers (24th) 2-1 Cardiff City (15th)
Tafazolli 33
Wheeler 63
Hoilett 90+3
Stoke City (7th) 1-1 Nottingham Forest (21st)
Thompson 18
Chester og 65
WEDNESDAY 30TH DECEMBER 2020
Brentford (2nd) 2-1 AFC Bournemouth (4th)
Solanke 25
Dalsgaard 37
Fosu-Henry 79
Swansea City (3rd) 0-0 Reading (6th)
Barnsley lie in 8th place in the Sky Bet Championship with 34 points from 22 games. We are 3 points off the Play-Offs, 7 points off the Automatic Promotion Places, 10 points off First Place and 18 points above the Relegation Zone.
Up to 30/12/20
Next Up:
On The Road:
Sky Bet Championship Matchday Twenty Three: Norwich City v Barnsley, Saturday 2nd January 2021. Kick-Off: 3pm
At Oakwell:
FA Cup Third Round: Barnsley v Tranmere Rovers, Sunday 10th January 2021. Kick-Off: 1:30pm