Barnsley reignited faint hopes of Championship survival with a shock 3-0 win at promotion chasing Fulham to record only their second away league win of the season at their first at Craven Cottage this Millennium.
Barnsley have now won three games against recently relegated Premier League outfits (2 v Fulham and 1 v Huddersfield) their most since 2007-2008 when they completed a double over Watford and defeated Charlton at Oakwell.
Barnsley completed their first league double of 2019-2020 and their first against Fulham since 1999-2000 when ironically they won 1-0 at home and also scored three at Craven Cottage, winning 3-1.
It is Barnsley's biggest ever win at Craven Cottage, but the fourth time overall they have netted three times there.
These back to back wins against Fulham come after losing each of the four meetings prior.
Barnsley opened the scoring for the first time in seven games (all comps) and for only the 13th time this season.
Barnsley have won each of the last five games in which they have scored the first goal of the game (Fulham, Huddersfield, Crewe, Millwall, QPR)
It was only the fourth away league game in which they have opened the scoring, going on to win 2, draw 1 and lose 1.
Barnsley were awarded a penalty to take the lead, only their second penalty of the season and their first on the road since the 6th April 2019 at Burton which Cauley Woodrow also scored.
It is the first time Barnsley have opened the scoring with a penalty for exactly 12 months when Woodrow did so against Wycombe on the 16th February 2019.
Woodrow has now scored Barnsley's first goal in a game on 17 occasions (all comps) whilst yesterday was his fifth brace for the club.
Woodrow has now scored five goals in his last five appearances.
Barnsley were winning at half time for only the seventh time in the Championship this season, going on to win six of those games with the only blip coming at West Brom when they led 2-0 at half time but ended up drawing 2-2.
That West Brom game is also the last time they were leading an away Championship game at half time and also the last time they were 2-0 up away from home at the break, back in October.
As mentioned before this completed a league double over Fulham following a 1-0 win on the opening day of the season, only four players have started both games for the Reds (Thomas, Bahre, Mowatt and Woodrow)
Barnsley scored three goals away from home in the Championship for the first time since October 2017 when they won 4-2 at Burton.
It is the first time they have won an away Championship game by at least three goals since December 2016 when they won 3-0 at Birmingham.
Barnsley have won only two league games on the road this season, the joint lowest in the division along with Middlesbrough, Wigan and Derby. Both victories have come in London, the first time they have won twice in the capital since 2015-2016 when they won at Millwall and twice at Wembley.
It is the first time they have won two regulation season games in London since 2012-2013 (Millwall, Charlton)
They are now half-way to matching their league double total from their last season in the Championship. They managed to defeat Sunderland and Birmingham home and away in 2017-2018.
This was Barnsley's third away clean sheet of the season and only their third in 23 away Championship outings.
This was Barnsley's sixth win of the season, the first time it has took 33 games to get to that total since 2013-2014 when they also won their sixth match in the 33rd game.
This was only the second time this season Fulham have failed to score in a league game at Craven Cottage, with the other occasion also resulting in a 3-0 defeat - against Hull in November.
Barnsley won a league match when not enjoying the majority of ball possession (41%) for only the second time this season.... the other occasion was the reverse fixture with Fulham (45%)
There were 35 shots in the game, only one Barnsley match has had more this season, against Leeds in September (38)
14 were on target, the joint most in a Barnsley league game this season (also v Reading at Oakwell)
Barnsley Team:
40. Brad Collins
2. Jordan Williams
7. Jacob Brown
9. Cauley Woodrow
10. Mike Bahre
11.Conor Chaplin
14. Kiliam Ludewig
16. Luke Thomas
18. Michael Sollbauer
24. Aapo Halme
27. Alex Mowatt (C)
Substitutes:
4. Kenny Dougall (for Thomas 81)
19. Patrick Schmidt (for Chaplin 86)
28. Elliot Simoes (for Woodrow 90)
Unused Substitutes:
3. Ben Williams
13. Jack Walton
22. Clark Oduor
37. Aiden Marsh
Fulham Team:
12. Marek Rodák
3. Michael Hector
6. Kevin McDonald
9. Aleksander Mitrovic
10. Tom Cairney (c)
13. Tim Ream
19. Ivan Cavaleiro
23. Joe Bryan
24. Anthony Knockaert
25. Josh Onomah
43. Steven Sessegnon
Substitutions:
14. Bobby Reid (for McDonald 53)
18. Harry Arter (for Cairney 54)
47. Aboubakar Kamara (for Sessegnon 65)
Unused Substitutes:
1. Marcus Bettinelli, 4. Denis Odoi, 8. Stefan Johansen, 22. Cyrus Christie.
Fulham manager Scott Parker said:
"I am shocked, I am bitterly disappointed, I am gutted. I didn't see it coming,"
"The fans who came here didn't see it coming and I can only apologise for the performance today because it wasn't what we have come to expect.
"But these things can sometimes happen and we need to reboot and learn from them. And the most important thing is to keep going, keep being strong characters in the changing room and don't dwell.
"There are no excuses. We were beaten by a better side today, a side that had more intensity and we were second best really. We didn't deserve anything out of the game."
Match Reports:
Official Website
BBC
Sky Sports
Sky Bet Championship results
FRIDAY 14TH FEBRUARY 2020
Hull City (17th) 4-4 Swansea City (11th)
Lopes 6
Routledge 13
Maddison 50
Naughton 55
Wilks 61
Garrick 77
Brewster 84
Eaves 90+5
SATURDAY 15TH FEBRUARY 2020
West Bromwich Albion (1st) 2-2 Nottingham Forest (5th)
Robinson 37
Bartley og 45
Figueiredo og 65
Cash 90+1
Birmingham City (14th) 1-1 Brentford (4th)
Jutkiewicz 13
Pinnock 17
Cardiff City (9th) 2-2 Wigan Athletic (22nd)
Moore 5
Murphy 8
Moore pen 45+4
Naismith og 55
Charlton Athletic (19th) 0-2 Blackburn Rovers (8th)
Buckley 29
Adarabioyo 37
Derby County (13th) 1-1 Huddersfield Town (20th)
Lawrence 61
Toffolo 81
Fulham (3rd) 0-3 BARNSLEY (24th)
Woodrow pen 24
Brown 51
Woodrow 79
Leeds United (2nd) 1-0 Bristol City (7th)
Ayling 16
Middlesbrough (18th) 0-1 Luton Town (23rd)
Tunnicliffe 17
Preston North End (6th) 0-1 Millwall (10th)
Hutchinson 78
Queens Park Rangers (16th) 4-2 Stoke City (21st)
Clucas 27
Campbell 31
Hugill 34
Eze 38
Osayi-Samuel 71
Chair 90+1
Sheffield Wednesday (12th) 0-3 Reading (15th)
Meite 21
Puscas 72
Baldock pen 90+1
Barnsley lie in 24th place in the Sky Bet Championship with 28 points from 33 games. We are 25 points outside the Play-Offs, 31 points outside the Automatic Promotion Places, 35 points outside First Place and 6 points inside the Relegation Zone.
Up to 16/2/20
Next Up:
At Oakwell:
Sky Bet Championship Matchday Thirty Four: Barnsley v Middlesbrough, Saturday 22nd February 2020. Kick-Off: 3pm
On The Road:
Sky Bet Championship Matchday Thirty Five: Hull City v Barnsley, Wednesday 26th February 2020. Kick-Off: 7:45pm