Barnsley failed to secure a second tier top half place at Christmas for the first time in four years as they fell behind to an early goal for the third successive game and this time could not come back.
The Reds fell behind after just 76 seconds following on from also conceding after two minutes against Preston and after four minutes at Hillsborough last weekend.
Barnsley have gone 13 league games without a draw (all under Ismael) (W8 L5) - prior to this they had drawn four out of five.
It is their longest run without a stalemate since a run of 17 between November 2014 and March 2015 (W10 L7)
Barnsley failed to score for only the second time in seven matches but it may come as no surprise considering they were facing the team with the best defensive record in the division. Swansea have now conceded only 12 goals in 20 games, three less than the next best teams (Watford and Middlesbrough) with this their 11th clean sheet in those 20, including four in the last five.
The Swans have also only conceded four times at the Liberty Stadium from 10 matches in 2020-2021, the joint best home defensive record in the Championship along with Middlesbrough.
Speaking of the Liberty, Barnsley are still searching for their first ever victory there having now lost five of their seven visits. Indeed home or away apart from a penalty shootout in the 2006 League One Play-Off Final Barnsley have failed to win any of the last 15 meetings (D7 L8) They last defeated Swansea at Oakwell in November 1983 (3-2) and have not won in this part of south Wales since August 1974 when they won 3-0 at the Vetch Field.
Jack Walton picked up a yellow card, his second ever booking and first in a league match. He is the first Barnsley goalkeeper to be booked since Brad Collins was shown a yellow card in the 6-0 EFL Cup defeat at Chelsea in September and the first in a league game since Collins was booked in a 2-2 draw at West Brom in October 2019.
Inform striker Victor Adeboyejo netted for the second successive game, but unfortunately on this occasion it was for the opponent, the first own goal scored by Barnsley since Michael Sollbauer at Leeds in July.
Barnsley have now conceded five goals in Wales following a 3-0 defeat at Cardiff, their most in this country since 2011/2012 when they conceded all five at Cardiff.
Barnsley have now reached 20 league games for the season and have collected 28 points, their most at this level since 2016-2017 when they also had 28 points after 20 games and had an identical record of eight wins, four draws and eight defeats. However four years ago they had scored 11 goals more but had conceded four more.
This was the first time Barnsley have lost their final match before Christmas since 2017 (2-1 at Fulham) they had won this particular match in each of the last two years.
Barnsley have now gone eight games without a clean sheet, their longest run in all competitions since a run of nine between 2nd January 2020 – 11th February 2020.
Swansea manager Steve Cooper did not make a substitution during the game, the first opposing manager to keep the same 11 on all game against Barnsley since Wycombe’s Gareth Ainsworth in December 2018.
Barnsley had 54% ball possession in the game, their most this season since QPR at home (60%) and most on the road since Middlesbrough (61%)
There were only 13 shots in the game, the joint lowest in a Barnsley match this season along with the league season opener against Luton.
Barnsley Team:
1 Jack Walton
6. Mads Andersen
30. Michal Helik
26. Michael Sollbauer
22. Clarke Oduor
27. Alex Mowatt
32. Matty James
7. Callum Brittain
11. Conor Chaplin
9. Cauley Woodrow
28. Dominik Frieser
Substitutes:
25. George Miller (for Frieser 57)
29. Victor Adeboyejo (for Woodrow 57)
16. Luke Thomas (for Chaplin 57)
21. Romal Palmer (for James 71)
8. Herbie Kane (for Mowatt 82)
Unused Substitutes:
40. Brad Collins, 34. Jasper Moon, 19. Patrick Schmidt.
Swansea Team:
1 Freddie Woodman
44. Ben Cabango
2. Ryan Bennett
5. Marc Guehi
23. Connor Roberts
6. Jay Fulton
8. Matt Grimes
24. Jake Bidwell
21. Yan Dhanda
10. Andre Ayew
9. Jamal Lowe
Substitutions:
None
Unused Substitutes:
22. Joel Latibeaudiere, 45. Kasey Palmer, 7. Korey Smith, 20. Liam Cullen, 31. Oliver Cooper, 3. Ryan Manning, 13. Steven Benda, 14. Viktor Gyokeres, 15. Wayne Routledge.
Swansea manager Steve Cooper said:
"Defensively I thought we were excellent, they can be difficult to deal with.... but I thought we controlled the game.
"We took a step back on Wednesday and we wanted to put that right today and we did that.
"I thought I would get a response and we did, there was a real intensity in training.
"We are all pleased about the pitch being replaced, it is quite exciting."
Sky Bet Championship results
FRIDAY 18TH DECEMBER 2020
Preston North End (15th) 1-0 Bristol City (9th)
Johnson pen 21
SATURDAY 19TH DECEMBER 2020
Norwich City (1st) 2-0 Cardiff City (10th)
Buendia 27
Cantwell 70
Birmingham City (17th) 1-4 Middlesbrough (6th)
Colin 15
Assombalonga 27
Saville 31
Etheridge og 56
Wing 82
Brentford (4th) 3-1 Reading (8th)
Jensen 11
Mbeumo 23
Mbeumo 29
Aluko 64
Huddersfield Town (12th) 2-0 Watford (5th)
Campbell 9
Capoue og 32
Luton Town (14th) 0-0 AFC Bournemouth (2nd)
Millwall (16th) 1-1 Nottingham Forest (20th)
Bradhsaw 47
Mighten 49
Sheffield Wednesday (23rd) 1-0 Coventry City (18th)
Lees 67)
Stoke City (7th) 1-0 Blackburn Rovers (11th)
Powell 6
Swansea City (3rd) 2-0 BARNSLEY (13th)
Lowe 2
Adeboyejo og 66
Wycombe Wanderers (24th) 1-1 Queens Park Rangers (19th)
McCarthy og 28
Mehmeti 88
Barnsley lie in 13th place in the Sky Bet Championship with 28 points from 20 games. We are 5 points off the Play-Offs, 10 points off the Automatic Promotion Places, 15 points off First Place and 12 points above the Relegation Zone.
Up to 20/12/20
Next Up:
At Oakwell:
Sky Bet Championship Matchday Twenty One: Barnsley v Huddersfield Town, Saturday 26th December 2020. Kick-Off: 3pm
On The Road:
Sky Bet Championship Matchday Twenty Two: Rotherham United v Barnsley, Tuesday 29th December 2020. Kick-Off: 7:45pm