Barnsley continued their unbeaten away start to the season by achieving back to back wins for the first time under Neill Collins and indeed first time since mid April.
The Reds are now unbeaten in their last seven League One away matches – last suffering defeat at Burton on the 7th April. They have lost only two of the last 15 (W7 D6)
It is their longest unbeaten away run since another run of seven between January and April 2021 in the Championship.
It is the first time they have won successive away league games since February against Port Vale and ironically Cheltenham.
It is the first time they have done so with accompanying clean sheets since September/October 2022 against Cambridge and Fleetwood.
Barnsley remain unbeaten after their opening three away league games (W2 D1) for the first time since 2018-2019 (also W2 D1)
Devante Cole opened the scoring for the second successive game, the 11th time he has netted the first goal of a League One match since the start of last season. They have now gone on to win 17 of the last 18 matches (all comps) in which Cole has scored.
The division’s current leading scorer has now netted in three successive matches for only the third time in his career (the other two came in the 2017-2018 season for Fleetwood during a purple patch of seven goals in eight games between August and September 2017), he has also netted in four of Barnsley’s opening six league games giving him six goals in as many matches.
Cole who is now the outright leading scorer in League One in 2023-2024 is the first Barnsley player to net in three successive matches since Adam Phillips against Port Vale, Cheltenham and Derby in February.
Nicky Cadden set up the goal to give him three assists for the season to make him Barnsley’s joint current assist leader in 2023-2024 with Barry Cotter.
The win was sealed in injury time by Max Watters, his fifth goal for the club and they are unbeaten in the four matches in which he has scored (W3 D1)
It is the fourth time the Reds have netted a 90+ goal this season (all comps) – Dallas v Port Vale 90+6, Marsh v Tranmere 90+8, McAtee v Wigan 90+2 and Watters v Cheltenham 90+2.
It is the first time Barnsley have scored successive injury time goals since the famous final two matches of 2019-2020 when they netted injury time goals against Nottingham Forest and Brentford to dramatically secure Championship survival.
Since being relegated back to League One in 2022 Barnsley have scored 10 league goals in the 90th minute or later.
Watters is the third Reds substitute to score this season following Andy Dallas and John McAtee.
Barnsley are the current League One top scorers having netted 14 goals in six games (two more than the next most - Bolton)
Amongst EFL sides only Swindon and Wrexham (15) have scored more than Barnsley.
The Reds also have the EFL’s joint best goal difference (+7) along with Portsmouth and Swindon.
This is the first time Barnsley have scored in their opening seven games
of a season in all competitions since 2016-2017 when they netted in their opening nine.
Barnsley won by as many as two goals when drawing 0-0 at half time for the first time since the 11th March when they defeated Plymouth 3-0 – the only time it occurred last season.
Herbie Kane has now picked up four yellow cards in just six league games meaning he is only one booking away from a suspension already.
Barnsley extended their unbeaten record against Cheltenham, the two sides have now met five times and following a 1-1 draw in the first meeting in 2002 Barnsley have won the following four.
The Reds have a 100% record at Cheltenham (W3) and have kept clean sheets in two of those victories, conceding just the once there in a 3-1 victory in 2003.
Home and away Barnsley have kept three successive clean sheets against the Robins and have conceded only two goals in total to them.
There were a total of 36 shots in the game, the most in a Barnsley match since the 15th April 2022 at Swansea.
The Reds have managed a total of 19 shots in each of their last two matches.
Barnsley Team:
1. Liam Roberts
41. Jack Shepherd
2. Jordan Williams
4. Kacper Lopata
17. Barry Cotter
30. Adam Phillips
3. Jon Russell
8. Herbie Kane
7. Nicky Cadden
44. Devante Cole
45. John McAtee
Substitutes:
36. Max Watters (for McAtee 73)
6. Mael de Gevigney (for Cotter 77)
38. Theo Chapman (for Phillips 89)
19. Aiden Marsh (for Cole 89)
Unused Substitutes:
23. Ben Killip, 26. Jamie McCart, 32. Harrison Nejman.
Cheltenham Team:
1. Luke Southwood
2. Sean Long
33. Curtis Davies
6. Lewis Freestone
15. Will Ferry
8. Liam Sercombe
23. Elliott Bonds
3. Ben Williams
11. Robert Street
10. Aidan Keena
9. Will Goodwin
Substitutions:
5. Owen Bevan (for Davies 64)
14. Curtis Thompson (for Bonds 64)
38. Nathan Butler-Oyedeji (for Goodwin 64)
25. Cameron Peupion (Williams 76)
26. Josh Williams (for Long 89)
Unused Substitutes:
20. Max Harris, 16. Daniel Adshead.
Match Reports:
Sky Bet League One Results:
SATURDAY 2ND SEPTEMBER 2023:
Blackpool (12th) 2-1 Wigan Athletic (21st)
Rhodes 4
Magennis 89
Dougall 90+4
Bolton Wanderers (2nd) 2-1 Derby County (11th)
Hourihane pen 34
Charles pen 43
Fornah og 65
Bristol Rovers (17th) 1-1 Lincoln City (8th)
Jackson 53
Grant 90+4
Burton Albion (22nd) 0-1 Exeter City (1st)
Trevitt 75
Carlisle United (19th) 2-0 Shrewsbury Town (14th)
Bayliss og 57
Garner 90+6
Charlton Athletic (16th) 2-1 Fleetwood Town (23rd)
Stockley 16
May 43, pen 73
Cheltenham Town (24th) 0-2 BARNSLEY 9th)
Cole 54
Watters 90+2
Leyton Orient (20th) 0-3 Stevenage (3rd)
McNeill 21
Sweeney 44
Freeman 79
Northampton Town (15th) 0-1 Wycombe Wanderers (10th)
Keogh 5
Oxford United (7th) 1-2 Port Vale (4th)
Iacovitti 74
Leigh 90+3
Devine pen 90+9
Portsmouth (5th) 3-1 Peterborough United (13th)
Jones 20
Bishop 38
Kamara 43
Poole 59
MONDAY 4TH SEPTEMBER 2023:
Cambridge United (6th) 1-0 Reading (18th)
Okenabirhie 83
Barnsley lie in 9th place in Sky Bet League One with 10 points from 6 games. We are 2 points off the Play-Offs, 3 points off the Automatic Promotion Places, 3 points off First Place and 8 points above the Relegation Zone.
Up to 5/9/23
Next Up:
At Oakwell:
Football League Trophy: Barnsley v Grimsby Town, Tuesday 5th September 2023. Kick Off: 7:30pm
On The Road:
Sky Bet League One Matchday Nine: Northampton Town v Barnsley, Saturday 23rd September 2023. Kick Off: 3pm