The 2005-2006 season was just meant to be like the other 3 mediocre seasons in the 3rd tier of English football.
After finishes of 19th, 12th and 13th nobody of a Red persuasion could even have dreamed that by May 2006 Barnsley Football Club would be toasting promotion to the Championship.
Barnsley had a fairly average August winning 2, losing 3 and drawing 1.
They started the season with an impressive 2-0 home victory over Swindon Town. But that victory was then followed by successive away defeats, 2-1 at Scunthorpe and 1-0 at Colchester to leave Barnsley fans with another sense of “have we been here before”
A 1-0 home victory over newly promoted Yeovil and a League Cup victory on penalties against Championship Preston showed what The Reds were capable of but a 1-1 home draw with Brentford and then a crushing 3-1 defeat at Swansea left The Reds in mid-table after just the first month
Record 29/8/05
P:6 W:2 D:1 L:3 F:6 A:7 GD:-1 Points:7 Pos:16th
September started much better for The Reds though as they despatched of Nottingham Forest 2-0 and Gillingham 3-0 in quick succession.
But again any hopes were extinguished as Barnsley drew 0-0 at Milton Keynes Dons. Lost 3-0 at Burnley in the League Cup, then suffered successive league defeats, 2-0 to Doncaster and 3-0 to Bristol City.
Record 27/9/05
P:11 W:4 D:2 L:5 F:11 A:12 GD:-1 Points:14 Pos:15th
If you had told a Barnsley fan after that Bristol City defeat on the 27th September that their team wouldn't lose another league game until December they would probably have locked you up. But it was true.
October started with a 4-0 home thumping of Oldham which was followed by a rather lucky 2-2 home draw with Blackpool, after The Reds had been 2-0 down going into the last 10 minutes.
A 5-2 humbling by Doncaster in the LDV Vans Trophy was the only blip and was quickly followed by a credible 1-1 draw at league leaders Southend.
Next up was a game in which most fans call the turning point of the season.
On the 25th October Barnsley travelled to local rivals Rotherham United sitting in 14th place. Victory would push The Reds up to 7th! And in dreadful conditions a Martin Devaney goal secured a 1-0 win and the road to glory really began.
4 days later Barnsley defeated Walsall 2-1 to move into the play-offs for the first time.
Record 29/10/05
P:16 W:7 D:4 L:5 F:21 A:16 GD:+5 Points:25 Pos:5th
Although November started with successive draws, 0-0 with Bradford and 1-1 with Rotherham again a 3-0 victory at Swindon saw The Reds hit December nicely in 6th. Barnsley also progressed into the Second Round of the FA Cup after defeating Darlington 1-0.
Record 26/11/05
P:19 W:8 D:6 L:5 F:25 A:17 GD:+8 Points:30 Pos:6th
December was a pretty epic month for Barnsley.
It started off with FA Cup Second Round action and a 1-1 draw at Bradford but what ensued what extraordinary.
The Reds then defeated Tranmere 2-1, Scunthorpe 5-2 and Bradford 5-3 in the FA Cup Replay before finally seeing their 10 game unbeaten league run ended by a 2-1 defeat at Yeovil. The Reds bounced back though with a 1-1 draw at Hartlepool on Boxing Day and then a 2-2 home draw with Huddersfield, with Barnsley leading 2-1 until the 94th minute!
Record 31/12/05
P:24 W:10 D:8 L:6 F:36 A:25 GD:+11 Points:38 Pos:6th
2006 started with two more draws, 0-0 at Chesterfield and then a 1-1 draw at home to Walsall in the FA Cup Third Round. A hard fought 1-0 home league victory over Gillingham kept Barnsley in the play-off frame before two inept defeats, 3-2 at Port Vale and 2-0 at Walsall in the FA Cup Replay left fans angry and frustrated.
But Barnsley wouldn't be Barnsley without surprising people and successive 2-0 wins at home to Milton Keynes Dons and in arguably the Performance of the Season at Nottingham Forest saw a happy ending to January.
Record 27/1/06
P:29 W:13 D:9 L:7 F:43 A:28 GD:+15 Points:48 Pos:4th
February started in the same way January ended, with a 2-0 win, this time against Bristol City but a miserable 2-0 defeat at Doncaster put things back into perspective.
Valentines Day didn't bring much love as a 1-1 draw at home to Port Vale started making fans sweat on a play-off place before two really really crucial 1-0 victories, at Tranmere and then at home to promotion rivals Colchester put The Reds to within 2 points of 2nd ! Win at Bournemouth and promotion was really in their own hands.
Unfortunately the boys could only claim a 1-1 draw and The Reds wouldn't win again until April.
Record 28/2/06
P:35 W:16 D:11 L:8 F:49 A:32 GD:+17 Points:59 Pos:3rd
As aforementioned The Reds didn't win another league game until April so March was a month that didn't bring much cheer. Funnily enough though Barnsley only lost ONCE. The bad thing was it was against their promotion rivals, Brentford by a 3-1 scoreline.
Three draws, 2-2 with promotion rivals Swansea, 1-1 at Hartlepool, and 0-0 at home to Bournemouth saw The Reds slip back down to 6th with only goal-difference keeping them in the play-offs.
Record 25/3/06
P:39 W:16 D:14 L:9 F:53 A:38 GD:+15 Points:62 Pos:6th
Barnsley were April Fools on 1st April when a 1-0 defeat at another promotion rival, Huddersfield saw The Reds drop out of the Play-Off places for the first time since October. It looked like we would throw it away again!
A disappointing 1-1 home draw with Chesterfield continued the gloom but a quite remarkable 3-0 win at Oldham (the team that had replaced The Reds in the Play-Offs) reignited Barnsley's season and ended that wretched winless run which had stretched to 7 games.
Still it wasn't to be plain sailing though from then on. Firstly a 2-0 lead against champions-elect Southend was turned into a 2-2 draw and then a 1-1 stalemate at Blackpool was followed by a 0-0 bore with Bradford in the final home game.
Record 29/4/06
P:45 W:17 D:18 L:10 F:60 A:43 GD:+17 Points:69 Pos:5th
This meant that Barnsley needed to win at relegated Walsall on the final day to secure a Play-Off Place.
Although it was a pretty poor performance, The Reds came away with a 2-1 victory and were all set for a Semi-Final showdown with Huddersfield.
Final Record 6/5/06
P:46 W:18 D:18 L:10 F:62 A:44 GD:+18 Points:72 Pos:5th
Into the Play-Off then and as Huddersfield finished 4th and Barnsley 5th in the league Barnsley had to play the Home Leg first and an advantage was imperative.
Unfortuantly the advantage went to the men from West Yorkshire as a defensive mistake allowed Huddersfield sneak a late goal and take a 1-0 advantage onto their home patch.
That though set up what will go down as one of the greatest nights in Barnsley Football Club history.
A fairly poor and goal-less first half was lit up when Barnsley won a dubious penalty to level the tie through Paul Hayes. Another defensive howler though allowed Huddersfield to go 2-1 up on aggregate.
But then the real drama.
Two late goals from Paul Reid and Daniel Nardiello saw Barnsley grab the tie 3-2 on aggregate and book a place in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium for the Final on May 27th.
The opponents would be Swansea who finished 6th in the league. They defeated 3rd placed Brentford in the Semi-Finals 1-1,2-0 and were automatically made favourites after collecting 4 points off Barnsley during the league season and also the fact that Swansea is a mere 41.6 miles away from Cardiff, whereas Barnsley is 208.6miles away from the Welsh Capital!
But as Barnsley fans have been forced to realsie, when it comes to this club things don't always pan out as they should.
In the Final, Barnsley did what they did at Wembley 6 years previous and took the lead but found themselves 2-1 down at the break. A Daniel Nardiello free-kick brought Barnsley level in the second half and after both teams missed chances the game moved into extra-time.
Swansea dominated the extra 30 minutes but couldn't put the ball in the back of the net.
Penalites would now decide which team would be promoted to the Championship. One kick from 12yards would make all the difference.
Both teams converted their first 2 penalties before Adebayo Akinfenwa blazed Swansea's third over the bar! Paul Heckingbottom converted Barnsley's 3rd and Leon Britton Swansea's 4th. Antony Kay noncehanctly hit Barnsley's 4th but Alan Tate saw Swansea's 5th saved by Nick Colgan and Barnsley Football Club were BACK IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP!
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