Barnsley put some daylight
between themselves and the relegation zone with a comfortable first win in
seven league games to all but relegate their opponents Rotherham.
It was also only Barnsley’s
sixth league victory in 2026 (from 20 matches)
It is only the fifth away
league victory this season (from 19) however Barnsley are now unbeaten on the
road in four, their joint longest away unbeaten run of the season.
Three of those five away wins
have been via 3-1 scorelines – the most amount of 3-1 away league wins in a
season since 2004-2005.
Adam Phillips set the ball
rolling for the Reds with his first strike in 13 appearances with this the
second time he has scored against the Millers this season (also in the League
Cup in August) whilst he has now scored in three of the last four meetings
against them and back to back at the New York Stadium.
Since joining in the summer of
2022 Phillips has scored in 38 games for Barnsley and they have won 25 (66%)
but this was the first in six.
The win was then secured by a
Tom Bradshaw brace, his first for the club since February 2017 in another 3-1
away win – at Aston Villa in the Championship. These are the only two braces he
has scored for Barnsley and this is his first for any club since April 2023 for
Millwall at Blackpool.
Bradshaw is the first Barnsley
player to net exactly twice in a game since Davis Keillor-Dunn on the 31st
January against Stevenage (another 3-1 win) whilst he is the first Red not
called Keillor-Dunn or David McGoldrick to net one for exactly a year when
Stephen Humphrys did so at Leyton Orient on the 18th April 2024.
This was the third time in the
2025-2026 League One season in which the Reds have gone 3-0 up – also occurring
against Huddersfield in August (another 3-1 win) and against Luton in November
which eventually finished 5-0.
Both of those games were at
Oakwell so it is the first time Barnsley have led 3-0 away from home since
August 2024 at Crawley.
Patrick Kelly and Phillips
picked up their fifth assists of the season, only Reyes Cleary (14) now has
more.
It is the seventh time this
season (all competitions) that a Barnsley player has both scored and assisted in
the same game whilst Phillips has now done it on four occasions (also v
Cheltenham in February 2023, Bolton on Boxing Day 2024 and Wrexham on New
Year’s Day 2025)
Phillips goal was the 60th
league goal scored in the first half of a Barnsley league game this season,
there have been 68 scored in the second half giving a total of 128, no other
League One side has seen more in their games in 2025-2026.
Barnsley were SO close to
finally ending that long streak without a league shut-out but Sam Nombe’s
penalty in the fifth minute of stoppage time means it is now 26
league games without a clean sheet, their longest run since a staggering run of
33 games between the 26th January 1952 and 29th November
1952.
They
are one of only three sides in the EFL to have both scored and conceded at
least 60 league goals this season alongside Championship outfits Hull City and
Wrexham who sit 6th and 7th in the second tier.
Barnsley’s
tally of 65 conceded is only surpassed by Leyton Orient in League One who have
let in 66.
This
is the third time this season Barnsley have followed up conceding three goals
by then scoring three in their very next game, also occurring in December
(losing 3-1 at Lincoln and then beating Leyton Orient 3-2 – they then also
conceded three in the next two games) and in February when they lost 3-2 at
Bolton and then drew 3-3 with Wimbledon.
Nombe’s
effort from 12 yards was the 15th successive spot kick
converted against Barnsley (excluding shootouts), Charlton’s Chuks Aneke was
the last player to fail from 12 yards against Barnsley back in April 2024.
The
Reds have now conceded from the spot in three of their past four matches, four
of the past six and in successive league matches for the first time since
November 2023 against Derby and Lincoln.
This
was Barnsley’s 14th win of the season, one less than they had
achieved after 40 games last season – it is their lowest amount of victories 40
games into a third tier season since 2004-2005 when they had won only 13.
Despite
now occupying a top half place only seven teams have won less than Barnsley’s
14 games and four of those occupy the four relegation spots.
Mael
de Gevigney, Corey O’Keeffe and Eoghan O’Connell were all booked, the first
time 3 Barnsley defenders have been yellow carded since the 17th
February 2024 at Fleetwood when de Gevigney, Jamie McCart and Josh Earl were
booked.
O’Connell was shown a yellow card after 94 minutes of the game,
Barnsley’s 12th second half injury time booking this season.
Barnsley continued their
incredible recent record against Rotherham with the 1-0 Oakwell defeat in
October now their only one in the last 16 meetings in all competitions with
this weekend’s triumph the 12th win in that run.
The Reds have won eight of the
last nine meetings with Rotherham now only scoring three times across the last
six.
Barnsley have won each of their
last five visits to Rotherham and six of the last seven – they have lost only
one of the last 10.
The Millers scored for only the
second time in five home meetings.
Barnsley won the game with only
33.8% ball possession, this is their lowest amount of possession when winning a
game since the remarkable 5-0 triumph over Luton in November when they had only
31.3%.
It is their lowest away winning
possession since a 3-0 win at Crawley in August 2024 (31.1%)
Remarkably Barnsley had nine
shots in the game, all of which were on target, the first time they have gone
through a whole match without a shot off target since the 1st March
2025 when they had five efforts all on target against Lincoln in a game they
won 4-3.
Barnsley Team:
1. Owen Goodman
7. Corey O’Keeffe
6. Mael de Gevigney
32. Josh Earl
15. Eoghan O’Connell
8. Adam Phillips
30. Jonathan Bland
22. Patrick Kelly
45. Vimal Yoganathan
18. Scott Banks
9. Tom Bradshaw
Substitutes:
19. Reyes Cleary (for Banks 69)
27. Tennai Watson (for Phillips
78)
5. Jack Shepherd (for Earl 78)
4. Marc Roberts (for Kelly 89)
39. Leo Farrell (for Bradshaw 89)
Unused
Substitutes:
51.
Kieren Flavell, 14. Nathanael Ogbeta.
Rotherham Team:
13.
Ted Cann
15.
Jamal Baptiste
18.
Lenny Agbaire
3.
Zak Jules
6.
Reece James
29.
Gabriele Biancheri
4.
Liam Kelly
24.
Harry Gray
44.
Daniel Gore
19.
Josh Benson
10.
Sam Nombe
Substitutions:
11. Ar’Jany Martha (for Biancheri
45)
22. Denzel Hall (for Agbaire 45)
20. Duncan Watmore (for Kelly 58)
9. Jordan Hugill (for Benson 66)
Unused
Substitutes:
50. Ben Childs, 2. Joe Rafferty, 51.
Cohen Lee.
League One Results
Saturday 11th April:
Cardiff City (2nd) 2-0 Bolton Wanderers (4th)
Kellyman 50
Willock 52
Lincoln City (1st) 2-1 Leyton Orient (19th)
Moylan 18
Forrester og 45+5
Ballard 71
Plymouth Argyle (7th) 2-2 Exeter City (21st)
Cole 47
Tolaj 79
Wareham
87
Boateng 90
Blackpool (18th) 3-1 Peterborough United (16th)
Taylor 3
Khela 24
Bloxham 49
Taylor 82
Bradford City (3rd) 0-1 Stevenage (6th)
Kemp 61
Burton Albion (17th) 1-0 AFC Wimbledon (20th)
Lofthouse 55
Doncaster Rovers (14th) 1-0 Reading (9th)
Bailey 58
Huddersfield Town (8th) 3-3 Wycombe Wanderers (11th)
Lowe
35
Ledson 48
Harness 75
Taylor
90
Harness 90+6
Lowe
90+11
Rotherham United (22nd) 1-3 BARNSLEY (12th)
Phillips
37
Bradshaw
64
Bradshaw
74
Wigan Athletic (15th) 2-1 Mansfield Town (13th)
Wright 25
Akins 28
Taylor pen 71
Barnsley lie in 12th
place in Sky Bet League One with 54 points from 40 games. We are 13 points off the
Play-Offs, 27 points off the Automatic Promotion Places, 39 points off First
Place and 7 points above the Relegation Zone.
Up to 13/4/26
Next Up:
On
The Road:
Sky Bet League One Matchday Forty One: Port Vale v Barnsley, Tuesday 14th April 2026. Kick-Off: 7:45pm
At
Oakwell:
Sky Bet League One Matchday Forty Two: Barnsley v Bradford City, Saturday 18th April 2026. Kick-Off: 12:30pm
