A defensive horror show
reminiscent of large parts of 2025-2026 saw Barnsley suffer their heaviest
league defeat 17 months since a 6-2 hammering at Birmingham in April 2025.
It is their heaviest home
league defeat since March 2024 when they lost 5-1 to Lincoln.
It is the fourth successive
season Barnsley have conceded at least five goals in a game in at least one
competition.
This is the first time in a
decade Barnsley have conceded five goals in a game in which they opened the
scoring, losing 5-2 at home to Nottingham Forest in November 2016 after Sam
Winnall had given them a fifth minute lead.
It is the first time Barnsley
have lost any game in which they led 1-0 since February at Huddersfield (lost
2-1) – they have lost seven league games in between that and Stevenage – whilst
it is the first time it has occurred at Oakwell since Boxing Day when they
actually led Mansfield 2-0 before losing 3-2.
Barnsley conceded four second half
goals for the first time since April 2025 when they lost 4-3 at Leyton Orient
and the first time at Oakwell since a 5-1 defeat to Lincoln in March 2024.
This is the second time Barnsley
have lost 5-1 (and conceded five goals) under Daniel Stendel with the other
occasion seeing him lose his job – following a 5-1 defeat at Preston on the 5th
October 2019.
Everything had started well with
Reds fans dreaming of a third successive league victory for the first time in
19 months when Cameron McGeehan netted for the third successive match – only
the second time he has done this in his career, also for Luton in 2015-2016.
McGeehan is the first Barnsley
player to net in three successive games since Jon Russell in the final three
games of 2024-2025.
It is the second time McGeehan
has scored for the Reds in a 5-1 defeat, also doing so in the aforementioned
Preston game which was Stendel’s last in his first spell in charge.
McGeehan’s goal came from the
penalty spot and they have now been awarded two penalties in their past three
games having only been awarded two in the previous 41 league outings.
It is the first time Barnsley
have netted two penalties in their opening five league games of a season since
2020-2021 when they were Barnsley’s first two league goals of the season –
arriving in the fourth and fifth game.
It is the first time since
February 2025 that a penalty has been Barnsley’s only goal in game – Adam
Phillips scoring from 12 yards in a 1-0 win at Rotherham and their only goal at
Oakwell since another Phillips spot-kick in a 1-1 draw with Stockport in
September 2024.
Barnsley have now kept only
three clean sheets in their past 37 League One games.
This was only the seventh ever
meeting between Barnsley and Stevenage and remarkably Dan Kemp has now netted
in four of them (all in a row and includes each of the last three at Oakwell)
He is also the third player to net a brace in
this fixture after Elliot List and Davis Keillor-Dunn.
Stevenage scored with all their
shots on target.
There was 9,446 in attendance,
Barnsley’s lowest home league attendance on a Saturday since the 17th
December 2022 against Burton (9,423)
The COVID season aside it is the earliest Barnsley have had a below 10k
Oakwell Saturday league crowd in a season since 2022-2023 when it also occurred
in the second one (the third home game of the season), 9,978 in attendance
against Wycombe.
It is Oakwell’s lowest league attendance
on a Saturday so early in a campaign since 2015-2016 when in the first home game
of the season against Burton only 8,583 attended.
Barnsley’s opponents made a
first half substitution for the first time in 28 games (all comps) – it last
occurred… at Oakwell… against…. Stevenage in January.
This was only the seventh ever
meeting between the two sides (all of which have come in the last three years)
and Barnsley have now lost five of them (W2), which includes five of the last
six following the Reds winning the first ever clash in December 2023.
They have met three times in
2026 which have produced 11 goals.
There were 27 fouls in the
match, the most in a Barnsley league game since September last year against
Reading (34)
Barnsley:
25.
Rogan Ravenhill
2.
Arley Kay
6.
Connor O’Riordan
4.
Sam Gale
3.
Ziyad Larkeche
11.
Tyrese Noslin
30.
Jonathan Bland
22.
Patrick Kelly
8.
Cameron McGeehan
19.
Reyes Cleary
9.
Makenzie Kirk
Substitutes:
39. Leo Farrell (for Kirk 45)
17. Amani Richards (for Larkeche 45)
48. Luca Connell (for Bland 60)
36. Luke Alker (for Cleary 60)
13. Clayton Taylor (for McGeehan 75)
Unused Substitutes:
51. Kieren Flavell, 44. Tayo Dunne.
Stevenage Team:
1. Tommy Setford
2. Luther James-Wildin
15. Terence Vancooten
5. Carl Piergianni
6. Lewis Freestone
18. Oliver Sanderson
7. Terry Taylor
8. Daniel Phillips
11. Jordan Roberts
10. Dan Kemp
9. Josh Magennis
Substitutions:
23. Louis Thompson (for Taylor 23)
28. Michael Mellon (for Magennis 72)
27. Ben Broggio (for Sanderson 72)
14. Saxon Earley (for Roberts 85)
4. Jordan Houghton (for Phillips 85)
Unused Substitutes:
12.
Daniel Barden, 16. Kaelan Casey.
Sky Bet
League One Results
Saturday 5th September
Peterborough United (20th)
1-2 Sheffield Wednesday (1st)
Feeney
og 38
Woods 47
Valery
79
Wigan Athletic (24th)
0-4 Stockport County (3rd)
Wootton
10
Wood
19
Diamond
21
Glover
90
BARNSLEY (14th) 1-5
Stevenage (16th)
McGeehan pen 17
Sanderson
43
Kemp
52
Vancooten
57
Kemp
66
Mellon
90+2
Bradford City (4th) 1-0
Mansfield Town (17th)
Sarcevic 18
Burton Albion (5th) 2-2
Cambridge United (6th)
Delap 19
Yahyai
43
Yahyai
65
Tilt 90
Doncaster Rovers (22nd)
2-3 Plymouth Argyle (13th)
Evans
28
May pen 51
Pepple
74
Watts
83
Grehan 90+5
Huddersfield Town (2nd)
1-1 Notts County (12th)
Harness 12
Cooper
23
Leicester City (18th)
0-4 Oxford United (10th)
Harris
8
Missanga
57
Harris
60
McDonnell
77
Luton Town (7th) 1-1
Leyton Orient (9th)
Donley 25
Kabia
34
Reading (8th) 3-1
Blackpool (11th)
Earthy 12
Lisbie 49
Clarkson
80
Brown 90+4
Wycombe Wanderers (23rd)
3-3 MK Dons (19th)
Casey 11
Henderson 31
Collins
51
Paterson
55
Nelson
59
Wareham 74
Monday 7th September
Bromley (21st) 0-2
AFC Wimbledon (15th)
Stockley
8
Hippolyte
67
Barnsley lie in 14th
place in Sky Bet League One with 7 points from 5 games. We are 1 point off the
Play-Offs, 4 points off the Automatic Promotion Places, 5 points off First
Place and 3 points above Relegation Zone.
Up to 8/9/26
Next Up:
On The Road:
Sky Bet League One Matchday Six: Plymouth Argyle v Barnsley, Saturday 12th September 2026. Kick-Off 3pm
At Oakwell:
Sky
Bet League One Matchday Seven: Barnsley v Leicester City, Saturday 19th
September 2026. Kick-Off 12:30pm
