Barnsley made it three wins in a four match unbeaten run after a comfortable victory with 10 men against Cambridge United for the second time this season.
Just like back in September when Liam Kitching was red carded at the Abbey Stadium the Reds scored after, won comfortably and kept a clean sheet to secure a second successive league double over the Us (however 30 years apart)
At Oakwell the Reds were ahead after just eight minutes through Max Watters first goal for the club – the fifth goal Barnsley have scored inside the opening ten minutes of a league match in 2022-2023 and the third to come at the eight minute mark.
It is the most league goals Barnsley have scored before the ten minute mark in a season since 2020-2021 (6)
Unfortunately however Watters failed to make it to half time, sent off for a stray elbow after 37 minutes, becoming the first Barnsley player to both score and be sent off in the same match since Marley Watkins against Nottingham Forest in November 2016.
It is Barnsley’s earliest red card in a game since Jacob Brown was dismissed after 35 minutes at Southend in March 2019.
Following going an entire campaign without a red card in 2021-2022, this was Barnsley’s fourth of 2022-2023, their most in a season since 2018-2019 (also 4) their last League One campaign.
Despite the man disadvanage the Reds kept a clean sheet on Harry Isted’s debut, Barnsley’s first shut out in 2023 and first for nine matches.
It was their 10th league shut-out of the season, their most since gaining 14 in 2020-2021.
This victory also saw them reach 50 points, after 28 games, the earliest they have reached this mark since their previous League One season in 2018-2019 when they had 55 points after 28 matches and sat third in the table.
Barnsley have now won each of their last four meetings with Cambridge stretching over 31 years.
Each of the last three victories have been accompanied with clean sheets and they have had four shutouts in the last five meetings.
The Reds have kept clean sheets in each of the last four Oakwell clashes, three of which they have won.
They have only ever lost one meeting at Oakwell, winning seven and drawing three.
They have kept clean sheets in six of the 11 Oakwell meetings.
Barnsley have now completed league doubles over Cambridge on three occasions (2022-2023, 1992-1993 and 1983-1984)
There were only 16 shots in the game, the lowest in a Barnsley game for seven outings.
This was the first Barnsley game in which neither side managed to reach double figures for shots in 10 (Peterborough away on the 2nd December 2022)
There were seven shots on target in a Barnsley match for the third time in four outings.
Barnsley Team:
1. Harry Isted
2. Jordan Williams
5. Liam Kitching
6. Mads Andersen ©
7. Nicky Cadden
8. Herbie Kane
12. Bobby Thomas
30. Adam Phillips
44. Devante Cole
47. Max Watters
48. Luca Connell
Substitutes:
9. James Norwood (for Cadden 45)
3. Jon Russell (for Phillips 45)
26. Ziyad Larkeche (for Cole 87)
17. Barry Cotter (for Connell 88)
Unused Substitutes:
20. Jamie Searle, 14. Josh Martin, 23. Oli Shaw.
Cambridge Team:
1. Dimitar Mitov
2. George Williams
4. Paul Digby ©
6. Lloyd Jones
9. Joe Ironside
10. Sam Smith
21. Ryan Bennett
23. Michael Morrison
24. Conor McGrandles
26. Harvey Knibbs
28. Liam Bennett
Substitutions:
18. Shilow Tracey (for Williams 71)
3. Brandon Haunstrup (for Bennett 72)
27. Ben Worman (for Ironside 72)
14. Jack Lankester (for Digby 78)
Unused Substitutes:
25. Will Mannion, 15. Jubril Okedina, 37. George Hoddle.
Cambridge manager Mark Bonner said:
“We saw earlier in the season when they went down to 10 men at our place, they’re very, very hard to create a chance against.
“You know you’re going to have a lot more of the ball after the sending off but you’ve got it in an area where they’re comfortable. Our outside centre-halves spent a lot of time on the ball and we got trapped in areas a little bit too much and we lacked a bit of penetration at times and a bit of composure at times.
“We didn’t create as much as we wanted to and the second goal makes it a really hard game for us to chase, but having said that we had some good chances in the game and if at any moment we take one of them it’s a different game.
“I actually think we had a lot of the ball and had very few chances against us. In the first 20m minutes we struggled to get a press on high enough and we knew they would get lots of diagonals and lots of forward runners and we weren’t able to contain that.
“But after the sending off we finished the first half really well. We probably needed an extra five minutes because we had good momentum and we were camped in their half, but the game changed in the second half. They made two changes, changed the shape of the team and we changed ours in view of what they had finished the first half with, but it didn’t really help us.
Match Reports:
Sky Bet League One Results:
Saturday 11th February 2023:
BARNSLEY (6th) 2-0 Cambridge United (23rd)
Watters 8
Williams 64
Burton Albion (18th) 1-0 Exeter City (10th)
Winnall 84
Charlton Athletic (12th) 1-2 Fleetwood Town (17th)
Rooney 28
Rak-Sakyi 45+5
Holgate 52
Cheltenham Town (19th) 0-0 Accrington Stanley (22nd)
Ipswich Town (3rd) 2-2 Sheffield Wednesday (2nd)
Smith 27
Byers 34
Broadhead 43
Davis 51
Lincoln City (13th) 1-0 Bristol Rovers (14th)
Poole 14
Milton Keynes Dons (20th) 1-1 Oxford United (16th)
Kaikai 25
Bate 71
Morecambe (21st) 1-1 Forest Green Rovers (24th)
Clarke 81
Stockton 89
Peterborough United (9th) 0-5 Bolton Wanderers (4th)
Almeida Santos 12
Charles pen 42
Charles 47
Charles pen 51
Almeida Santos 77
Plymouth Argyle (1st) 3-1 Portsmouth (11th)
Cosgrove 24
Azaz 70
Hackett-Fairchild 79
Hardie 90+4
Shrewsbury Town (8th) 3-2 Port Vale (15th)
Politic 13
Dunkley 27
Leahy 33
Phillips 43
Proctor 52
Wycombe Wanderers (7th) 3-2 Derby County (5th)
Vokes 11
Collins 66
Wing 77
Wing 86
Dobbin 89
Barnsley lie in 6th place in Sky Bet League One with 50 points from 28 games. We are 3 points inside the Play-Offs, 12 points off the Automatic Promotion Places, 14 points off First Place and 22 points above the Relegation Zone.
Up to `12/2/23
Next Up:
On The Road:
Sky Bet League One Matchday Twenty Nine: Port Vale v Barnsley, Tuesday 14th February 2023 Kick Off: 7:45pm
At Oakwell:
Sky Bet League One Matchday Thirty One: Barnsley v Derby County, Saturday 25th February 2023. Kick Off: 3pm