Barnsley Manager Neill Collins has given his players plenty of credit after they twice came from behind against Wycombe Wanderers to put three more important points on the board.
The Tykes would eventually run out as 4-2 winners, but were caused plenty of problems by their opposition. It was a great performance on the road nonetheless and one that the players can be proud of how they performed, especially in the second half.
The hosts would take the lead through Dale Taylor in the 16th minute and started the better of the two. Sam Cosgrove would however find the equaliser for Barnsley in first-half stoppage time to ensure that the two teams went into the break level.
Wycombe would once again go ahead, this time through Kieran Sadlier early into the second half. The Tykes would respond well to find a reply, Donovan Pines netting just four minutes later, and then began to really turn on the style. Goals from Corey O’Keeffe and Conor Grant would send all three points back to Yorkshire in what was a positive performance by Neill Collins’ side.
It was an important win for Barnsley, who stay right in the fight for an automatic promotion spot as a result. Just three points off of Derby County with two games in hand, things are looking rather positive at Oakwell at the minute, yet they do face a hard task to pass both Bolton Wanderers in third and the aforementioned Derby in second.
Recent form does however speak strongly in the Tykes’ favour, with the club now unbeaten in their last six, which has also seen them win their last three on the bounce. Tuesday night sees a six-pointer at the top of the table as they host Bolton Wanderers, a win then would really strengthen their promotion credentials.
Speaking to The Yorkshire Post after the win against Wycombe, Collins took plenty of positives from the performance.
“The resilience they’ve shown after going behind and then going behind again, to come back was fantastic. The quality of our play when we put it together caused Wycombe real problems. We created some really good moments and the quality of a couple of our goals was excellent.
“So I think overall, coming away from home against a team that’s made it really difficult for teams at home recently is all positive.”
“I think we were the victims of our downfall with respect to the two goals we gave away and then when we did go 4-2 in the lead we contrived to give up two or three chances just from poor choices.
“But in the end we regrouped and saw it out pretty comfortably. There’s more positives than negatives of course.”
Writer’s View
Recent performances have given Barnsley a great chance of gaining automatic promotion to the Championship and the win over Wycombe was yet another one that can be filed under that category. It was a real battling performance on the road, and that hard work was rewarded with three points.
Although no ground has been gained or lost with the rest of the top five all winning, the Tykes’ unbeaten record continues to grow. The game against Bolton on Tuesday night is a huge one, and if able to pick up three points, then they may just become favourites to take second.
