Barnsley are now within touching distance of securing a Championship play-off place for the first time in 21 years.
A 1-0 victory at Huddersfield coupled with Reading’s goal-less draw at Luton moved the Reds six points clear of the Royals in seventh with only nine points left to play for. Should Barnsley beat South Yorkshire rivals and relegation threatened Rotherham on Saturday coupled with Reading failing to beat fourth place Swansea on Sunday will ensure The Reds will be in the end of season lottery and potentially three games away from the Premier League.
Barnsley picked up their 22nd Championship victory of the season (from 43 games), moving them within two of their highest total at this level in their history (24 in 1999-2000).
They have equalled the amount they secured in their only second tier promotion season of 1996-1997.
Barnsley have the same amount of Championship wins as third place Bournemouth and fourth placed Swansea whilst only the top two (Norwich 27, Watford 25) have won more this season.
This was the 14th Barnsley league match to be goal-less at half time this season, they only went on to win two of the first seven but are now unbeaten in the last seven, winning five.
Barnsley have scored 49 league goals under Valérien Ismaël, 30 of which have come in the second half (61%)
Barnsley are now unbeaten in their last 38 games (all comps) when opening the scoring (W34 D4) last losing when breaking the deadlock at Cardiff in December 2019.
It’s the 26th win of the season (22 league wins, 4 cup wins), their most in a second tier season since 1999-2000 (27)
This was Barnsley’s 13th Championship clean sheet of the season, one more they managed last season and most in a second tier campaign since 2016-2017 (14)
Barnsley picked up their 11th away league success – already a club record in the second tier and equalling the amount gained in the League One promotion seasons of 2015-2016 and 2018-2019.
Only league leaders Norwich (14) have won more away Championship matches this season than Barnsley.
This was Barnsley’s fourth away Championship win with a clean sheet, their most since 2016-2017 (6)
Ismael made only two substitutions in the game, the lowest amount made by Barnsley this season and lowest since the final game before the first lockdown – 7th March 2020 v Cardiff (also 2)
Barnsley have failed to score a first half goal in 30 of their 49 games so far this season (all comps)
Barnsley won for only the fourth time at the John Smith’s Stadium, from 15 visits, with this the first since the League One Play-Off Semi-Final Second Leg in May 2006 and the first in a regular season game since September 2004.
Prior to this Barnsley had lost three successive visits to the John Smith’s.
The Reds have completed a league double over Huddersfield for the first time since 2004-2005.
Barnsley Team:
40. Brad Collins
26. Michael Sollbauer
30. Michal Helik
6. Mads Andersen
7. Callum Brittain
21. Romal Palmer
27. Alex Mowatt
4. Callum Styles
28. Dominik Frieser
14. Carlton Morris
9. Cauley Woodrow
Substitutes:
10. Daryl Dike (for Frieser 45+2)
2. Jordan Williams (for Palmer 78)
Unused Substitutes:
1 Jack Walton, 11. Conor Chaplin, 20. Toby Sibbick, 22. Clarke Oduor, 24. Aapo Halme, 29. Victor Adeboyejo, 34. Jasper Moon.
Huddersfield Team:
31. Ryan Schofield
35. Rarmani Edmonds-Green
15. Richard Keogh
23. Naby Sarr
6. Jonathan Hogg
29. Aaron Rowe
7. Juninho Bacuna
8. Lewis O'Brien
9. Duane Holmes
19. Josh Koroma
55. Yaya Sanogo
Substitutions:
49. Scott High (for Rowe 58)
20. Sorba Thomas (for Edmonds-Green 69)
25. Danny Ward (for Koroma 69)
14. Carel Eiting (for Bacuna 77)
16. Rolando Aarons (for Holmes 77)
Unused Substitutes:
12. Richard Stearman, 17. Demeaco Duhaney, 28. Jaden Brown, 44. Joel Pereira.
Huddersfield manager Carlos Corberan said:
"We knew how important it would be today to get the three points. We knew today that to compete we needed a lot of fight mentality, and a brave mentality.
"The game was for me equal in the first half, but in the first minutes of the second half they were better than us. They statred to play more balls in our half and we had problems in making our transition.
"The game was too open in some moments and they used one of those fast transitions to score the goal and that made them more comfortable in defending the result.
"In the last minutes the team reacted in a way they have to react, we tried to play better, we started to play more close to their goal with some options, but in the end we couldn't get the result that we wanted to."
Sky Bet Championship results
TUESDAY 20TH APRIL 2021
Brentford (5th) 1-1 Cardiff City (9th)
Moore pen 57
Fosu-Henry 63
Norwich City (1st) 0-1 Watford (2nd)
Gosling 57
Preston North End (14th) 3-0 Derby County (21st)
Whiteman 18
Evans 73
Ledson 87
Sheffield Wednesday (23rd) 1-0 Blackburn Rovers (17th)
Windass 37
Swansea City (4th) 0-1 Queens Park Rangers (8th)
Dykes 89
WEDNESDAY 21ST APRIL 2021
Millwall (11th) 1-4 AFC Bournemouth (3rd)
Billing 16
Danjuma 27
Brooks 44
Wallace 49
Solanke 67
Rotherham United (22nd) 1-2 Middlesbrough (10th)
MacDonald 3
Saville 33
Akpom 55
Stoke City (13th) 2-3 Coventry City (15th)
Walker 44
Brown 58
Biamou 68
Clucas 70
Gyokeres 78
Wycombe Wanderers (24th) 2-1 Bristol City (16th)
Bakinson 28
Ikpeazu 65
Akinfenwa pen 90+3
Birmingham City (19th) 1-1 Nottingham Forest (18th)
Roberts 49
Grabban pen 90+8
Huddersfield Town (20th) 0-1 BARNSLEY (6th)
Dike 65
Luton Town (12th) 0-0 Reading (7th)
Barnsley lie in 6th place in the Sky Bet Championship with 74 points from 43 games. We are 6 points inside the Play-Offs, 11 points off the Automatic Promotion Places, 16 points off First Place and 35 points above the Relegation Zone.
Up to 22/4/21
Next Up:
At Oakwell:
Sky Bet Championship Matchday Forty Four: Barnsley v Rotherham United, Saturday 24th April 2021. Kick-Off: 3pm
On The Road:
Sky Bet Championship Matchday Forty Five: Preston North End v Barnsley, Saturday 1st May 2021. Kick-Off: 3pm