After 12 long years Barnsley once again tasted victory at Hillsborough with a second come from behind victory in the space of four games.
The Reds had drawn two and lost four of their six trips to Hillsborough since Jamal Campbell-Ryce had given them a 1-0 win back in February 2009 and indeed this is only their second win in 20 visits (D3 L15) in all competitions.
Barnsley secured a first derby victory home or away against Wednesday for the first time in 13 clashes by coming back from a 1-0 deficit. Prior to a 2-1 win at Birmingham on the 1st December the Reds had failed to win any of 63 games in which they had conceded the first goal in the Championship.
It is only the second time ever that Barnsley have won at Hillsborough having conceded the first goal, the only other time it occurred was back in December 1922 when the Reds ended up winning 3-2.
Barnsley conceded the opening goal and still led at half time in a game for the first time since September 2018 at Fleetwood (1-0 down, 2-1 up, won 3-1) and the first time at this level since December 2016 when they conceded after just three minutes at Cardiff but led 3-1 at the break.
Valerien Ismael has now won seven of his first 11 matches in charge of Barnsley, becoming the first Reds manager EVER to win as many as seven of his first 11 in charge.
Barnsley scored two first half goals away from home for the first time in six away outings, the only two occasions it has occurred in the Championship this season. – they only managed to do this ONCE last season, at West Brom in October 2019.
Four out of Barnsley’s last five matches have seen both teams score, none of the prior six did.
They have had three successive victories in which both teams have scored for the first time since November/December 2019 (3-1 v Hull, 5-3 v QPR, 2-1 v Millwall)
Barnsley have won each of their past five league matches when ahead at half time and indeed are unbeaten in each of their last 17 (W14 D3) since a 2-1 reverse at Bristol Rovers on the final day of 2018-2019.
Barnsley have won 21 of the 37 games in which Cauley Woodrow has scored (D10 L6)
Each of Barnsley’s last six league victories when conceding have all finished 2-1.
Barnsley have gone 11 league games without a draw (all under Ismael) (W7 L4) - prior to this they had drawn four out of five.
It is their longest run without a stalemate since a run of 11 between September 2015 and November 2015 (W2 L9)
Barnsley have won back-back league games for the third time this season, equalling the amount from last season.
Barnsley conceded in the first five minutes for the second successive season at Hillsborough (last season Josh Murphy netting after two minutes and Josh Windass after four minutes this season)
Those goals along with Luton’s Jacob Butterfield (2) and James Collins (4) last season along with Cardiff’s Junior Hoilett (4) this season are the earliest goals Barnsley have conceded in the last two seasons.
Barnsley have conceded a first half goal in each of the last five derbies with Wednesday and each of the last four at Hillsborough.
Josh Windass has opened the scoring in successive derbies, having given Wednesday the lead at Oakwell back in February, followed by Woodrow equalising – just like in February.
Those two players are the first to score in back-back derbies since Jermaine Johnson for Wednesday in 2009-2010.
Barnsley scored twice at Hillsborough for only the second time in 21 visits dating back to 1981 – also doing so in a 2-2 draw on the opening day of the 2009-2010 season.
Barnsley won at Hillsborough when Wednesday also scored for the first time since a 4-2 victory in September 1946. There three victories since were 2-0, 1-0, 1-0.
Barnsley have won back to back away Championship games after conceding first for the first time since October/December 2009 – they defeated Peterborough 2-1 on the 31st October 2009, scoring on 26 and 39 after conceding after 24, before their next away match on the 5th December saw them win 2-1 at Blackpool with goals after 85 and 88 when conceding after 72.
There were no Barnsley bookings in a derby v Wednesday for the first time in 27 meetings since no players on either side were booked in a 1-0 Barnsley win at Oakwell in November 2000.
Barnsley Team:
1. Jack Walton
6. Mads Andersen
24. Aapo Halme
26. Michael Sollbauer
4. Callum Styles
27. Alex Mowatt
32. Matty James
7. Callum Brittain
11. Conor Chaplin
28. Dominik Frieser
9. Cauley Woodrow
Substitutes:
8. Herbie Kane (for James 67)
29. Victor Adeboyejo (for Frieser 67)
16. Luke Thomas (for Chaplin 67)
25. George Miller (for Woodrow 86)
21. Romal Palmer (for Mowatt 90)
Unused Substitutes:
40. Brad Collins, 22. Clarke Oduor, 30. Michal Helik, 19. Patrick Schmidt.
Sheffield Wednesday Team:
28. Joe Wildsmith
22. Moses Odubajo
15. Tom Lees
23. Chey Dunkley
4. Joost van Aken
10. Barry Bannan
27. Dominic Iorfa
7. Kadeem Harris
5. Callum Paterson
11. Adam Reach
18. Josh Windass
Substitutions:
8. Joey Pelupessy (for van Aken 45)
2. Liam Palmer (for Dunkley 66)
20. Jordan Rhodes (for Iorfa 83
24. Isaiah Brown (for Paterson 84)
Unused Substitutes:
29. Alex Hunt, 25. Cameron Dawson, 45. Elias Kachunga, 17. Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, 14. Matthew Penney.
Sheffield Wednesday manager Tony Pulis said:
"It's confidence, and how do you breed confidence? We switched off twice, the first goal is comical really and then the second goal, it's just a one-two around the corner.
"Really disappointing. We changed it around in the second half, there was a lot more positivity and the shot that came off the woodwork. Those little breaks when you're going well, they go in.
"We had two or three great opportunities but the final pass let us down. It's difficult at the moment. Dominic Iorfa has done his Achilles. We don't want to lose him. In training he's like a Rolls-Royce."
Sky Bet Championship results
SATURDAY 12TH DECEMBER 2020
Cardiff City (10th) 0-2 Swansea City (3rd)
Lowe 6
Lowe 72
Birmingham City (16th) 0-1 Watford (4th)
Deeney pen 85
Blackburn Rovers (12th) 1-2 Norwich City (1st)
Pukki 22
Elliott 59
Pukki 65
AFC Bournemouth (2nd) 5-0 Huddersfield Town (14th)
Solanke 8
Solanke 13
Brooks 21
Stanislas 67
Surridge 70
Derby County (22nd) 0-0 Stoke City (8th)
Luton Town (11th) 3-0 Preston North End (15th)
Collins 22
Collins 29
Collins 66
Middlesbrough (9th) 3-0 Millwall (17th)
Watmore 13
Tavernier 15
Watmore 20
Nottingham Forest (21st) 1-3 Brentford (6th)
Dalsgaard 15
Dasilva 83
Toney 88
Worrall 90+2
Queens Park Rangers (19th) 0-1 Reading (5th)
Olise 89
Rotherham United (20th) 2-0 Bristol City (7th)
Crooks 4
Smith 41
Sheffield Wednesday (24th) 1-2 BARNSLEY (13th)
Windass 4
Woodrow 14
Frieser 37
Wycombe Wanderers (23rd) 1-2 Coventry City (18th)
Kelly 34
Kelly 45+4
Jacobson pen 61
Barnsley lie in 13th place in the Sky Bet Championship with 25 points from 18 games. We are 6 points off the Play-Offs, 9 points off the Automatic Promotion Places, 12 points off First Place and 12 points above the Relegation Zone.
Up to 13/12/20
Next Up:
At Oakwell:
Sky Bet Championship Matchday Nineteen: Barnsley v Preston North End, Tuesday 15th December 2020. Kick-Off: 7:45pm
On The Road:
Sky Bet Championship Matchday Twenty: Swansea City v Barnsley, Saturday 19th December 2020. Kick-Off: 3pm