Barnsley got back to winning ways to move within three points of the top six and end a four match winless league run which had included three defeats.
It is only their second win in six at Oakwell in the league and only their third clean sheet in eight at home in 2022-2023.
This was Barnsley’s seventh league victory of the season (one more than they managed in the whole of the 2021-2022 Championship campaign) and six of them have been accompanied with clean sheets – a 3-1 victory over Charlton the exception.
They secured their seventh league clean sheet of the campaign and their goals against column of 14 is the joint lowest in League One so far along with Bolton, Derby and Fleetwood.
The total of seven league clean sheets equals their total from 2021-2022 and they now have a total of nine in all competitions this season.
Barnsley’s opening goal was scored by Devante Cole, his fifth of the season which sees him overtake Josh Benson as current top scorer – his best tally in a season for Barnsley is seven in 2014-2015.
It was assisted by the returning Jordan Williams who appeared for the first time in five games (all comps) and was his third assist of the season putting him level with Luca Connell as most so far for the club in 2022-2023.
The win was sealed by a finish from Josh Martin, the fifth goal scored by a Barnsley substitute this season (all comps)
There were 9,551 in attendance, Barnsley’s lowest Oakwell league crowd since unlimited supporters were allowed back into stadium.
Barnsley had 18 shots on goal, their most in a game in 2022-2023 and most since Peterborough at home on the 18th April (19)
Six were on target, their most in a league game in 2022-2023 and most since the aforementioned Peterborough game (11)
No team has managed more than one shot on target against Barnsley in the last four matches with Forest Green the second team after Bristol Rovers to fail to have a single one at all this season.
Barnsley’s total of nine corners is their joint most this season (also against Port Vale)
There were 25 fouls in the game, only in the match v Ipswich (28) have there been more in a Barnsley game this season.
Barnsley Team:
40. Brad Collins
3. Thomas Edwards
6. Mads Andersen (c)
5. Liam Kitching
2. Jordan Williams
8. Herbie Kane
48. Luca Connell
10. Josh Benson
7. Nicky Cadden
44. Devante Cole
9. James Norwood
Substitutes:
31. Slobodan Tedic (for Norwood 78)
30. Adam Phillips (for Kane 78)
24. Robbie Cundy (for Williams 78)
14 Josh Martin (for Cole 79)
29. Fabio Jalo (for Benson 86)
Unused Substitutes:
1. Jack Walton, 26. Ziyad Larkeche.
Forest Green Team:
24. Lewis Thomas
3. Dominic Bernard
6. Baily Cargill (c)
23. Christian Marques
2. Corey O'Keeffe
27. Harvey Bunker
8. Regan Hendry
11. Harry Boyes
25. Myles Peart-Harris
28. Josh March
21. Connor Wickham
Substitutions:
17. Kyle McAllister (for Bunker 57)
10. Armani Little (for Peart-harris 58)
14. Jamille Matt (for Wickham 68)
18. Bryan Fiabema (for Boyes 68)
Unused Substitutes:
5. Oliver Casey, 13. Alfie Burnett, 19. Sean Robertson.
Forest Green manager Ian Burchnall said:
I thought we did okay in the first half, I thought we controlled the game with the ball, I thought we were quite dominant. Their goal comes against the run of play in my opinion, we start the game well. It’s a bit disappointing because moments before the first goal Josh March is through, he’s given offside, I’ve looked at it back, he’s about two metres onside and then straight down the other end and they score so that’s the margins sometimes. And then second half we don’t really respond well enough, I think they went very direct, they played lots of long balls and picked up seconds, and we just didn’t do some of dirty work well enough to be able to establish ourselves in the game.”
Match Reports:
Sky Bet League One Results
Saturday 29th October 2022:
BARNSLEY (8th) 2-0 Forest Green Rovers (22nd)
Cole 15
Martin 83
Bolton Wanderers (6th) 1-3 Oxford United (18th)
Anderson 25
Brown 53
Charles 73
Seddon 79
Charlton Athletic (9th) 4-4 Ipswich Town (2nd)
Edmundson 45+3
John-Jules 52
Rak-Sakyi 63
Morgan 76
Ladapo 90+1
Morsy 90+4
Thomas 90+6
Dobson 90+9
Cheltenham Town (19th) 0-0 Milton Keynes Dons (21st)
Derby County (7th) 4-2 Bristol Rovers (16th)
McGoldrick 5
Collins 12
McGoldrick 24
Thomas 35
McGoldrick 40
Evans 45+3 pen
Fleetwood Town (15th) 3-0 Accrington Stanley (20th)
Mendes Gomes 50
Rooney 54
Earl 59
Peterborough United (4th) 1-0 Cambridge United (17th)
Jones og 18
Port Vale (12th) 1-0 Lincoln City (14th)
Butterworth 68
Portsmouth (5th) 1-1 Shrewsbury Town (11th)
Bennett 26
Swanson 29
Sheffield Wednesday (3rd) 4-2 Burton Albion (24th)
Bannan 22
Smith pen 26
Wilks 53
Dele-Bashiru 75
Winnall 76
Hamer 82
Wycombe Wanderers (13th) 1-1 Morecambe (23rd)
Forino 20
Mayor 82
Monday 31st October 2022:
Plymouth Argyle (1st) 4-2 Exeter City (10th)
Collins 25
Whittaker 27
Nombe 52
Mumba 58
Hardie 70
Hardie 84
Barnsley lie in 8th place in Sky Bet League One with 24 points from 16 games. We are 3 points off the Play-Offs, 13 points off the Automatic Promotion Places, 17 points off First Place and 10 points above the Relegation Zone.
Up to 31/10/22
Next Up:
On The Road:
FA Cup First Round: Bolton Wanderers v Barnsley, Saturday 5th November 2022 Kick Off: 2pm
At Oakwell:
Sky Bet League One Matchday Eighteen: Barnsley v Milton Keynes Dons, Saturday 19th November 2022 Kick Off: 3pm