Analysis of Barnsley's 3-1 defeat at Lincoln City on Tuesday. After Davis Keillor-Dunn levelled, they conceded straight from the re-start then again three minutes later.
12 STUPID SECONDS COST BARNSLEY
THERE was a noise played out of the home stands at Sincil Bank on Tuesday evening, often when the hosts sent one of their regular set pieces into the Barnsley box, which sounded like an old-fashioned air raid siren or something you might hear at one of the many RAF bases across the ‘bomber county’ of Lincolnshire.
It may have been a whistle or horn of some kind, smuggled into the stands and presumably designed to freak out the opposition when defending in their box. But there was no time for the owner of the device to use it when Lincoln scored their second goal on Tuesday, as just 12 seconds had passed since the hosts kicked off having conceded an equaliser, or for the third from a long throw because, presumably, they were still celebrating taking the lead three minutes earlier.
You don’t have to bring any equipment from home to unsettle this Barnsley side, they do it to themselves frequently with a lack of concentration, resilience and game management which is badly hampering a promotion challenge.
The defending had been a little bit better in recent weeks but the goals on Tuesday, and several other chances given to the hosts, showed it is still a very weak area.
The Reds could not hack it against Reeco Hackett who scored twice, either side of the ridiculous 2-1 goal by Tom Bayliss which saw the home goalkeeper receive the ball from kick-off then set up what proved to be the winner with a wind-assisted punt downfield which would be expected to be dealt with at any level of football.
The sight of red home shirts sprinting past the bedraggled white-shirted line of defenders towards the unprotected goal summed up a grim evening.
There are some good points about this Barnsley team, they play some nice football at times and have some terrific young talents, but they let in far too many avoidable goals and just have these moments of incompetence and collapse – losing 5-0 at Port Vale in the trophy then conceding twice immediately after equalising here which was reminiscent of the loss at Leyton Orient on Good Friday.
When Barnsley almost threw away a 4-1 lead in March in a home win against Lincoln, then head coach Darrell Clarke said: “I just never feel like I can relax with our boys. I have to be on them all the time. They will probably give me a heart attack in a few years.”
Despite only two of the same players playing this game for the Reds, not much has changed.
This time Clarke's replacement Conor Hourihane said of the second goal: “It’s a complete moment of madness. To concede like that is crazy. I can’t get my head round it. I am not sure what they are thinking or doing as a team.”
Clearly the buck stops with him and his coaches but you cannot legislate for professional footballers defending that badly. The Reds had worked hard to equalise then undid all that good work in 12 seconds of stupidity.
DEFENDING STILL MAJOR ISSUE
It was a makeshift defence due to Josh Earl’s illness and Marc Roberts only being fit enough for the bench, with young midfielder Jono Bland at right-back and right-back Tennai Watson on the left as Nathanael Ogbeta was still out while Georgie Gent was rested after his return.
Roberts was badly missed – both for his aerial abilities against the hosts’ set pieces and long passes, but also for his experience and leadership in managing situations such as the goal from the kick-off. While he is clearly in the twilight of his career, and has his faults, the second and third goals would have been far less likely to happen had he been on the pitch.
Mael de Gevigney started as a centre-back in the league for the first time this season, after being used on the right and, more recently the left of a back four. He had probably earned another chance with generally decent performances, especially in cup games, but in this match he failed to provide the strong commanding presence that was needed – regularly misjudging balls into the box or sending headers in totally the wrong directlion like when he gifted the Imps their third goal.
It was a second tough Tuesday in a row for the other centre-back Jack Shepherd who had been arguably the Reds’ best defender this season before poor displays at Port Vale and now Lincoln.
Both the full-backs struggled defensively while the back four were not protected well by those in front of them.
Lincoln’s tactics are often direct but it was them who played more intricate and effective passes in attacking areas than their visitors.
The third home goal was the eighth Barnsley have conceded from a set piece this season, compared to four scored from set pieces.
Lincoln did not play over the weekend as they were out of the FA Cup, having made nine changes for their trophy match the previous Tuesday – meaning the majority of their first choice players had a fortnight without playing. In contrast, Barnsley played almost a full-strength side a week earlier in the trophy thrashing at Port Vale then also played at Peterborough in the FA Cup. But you cannot blame a lack of freshness for the inexplicable goals conceded.
STATS SHOW BARNSLEY LOST THE BALL 44 TIMES
Barnsley tried to pass out from the back throughout and, although it worked at times and led to some attacks, there was a nervousness to much of their play. The Reds had 70 per cent of the ball but lost it 44 times according to trusted stats website Whoscored. For context, that is easily the most often Barnsley have lost the ball this season in a league game with the number usually about half that.
Almost every player was guilty of either passing to the opponents or being caught in possession, while Lincoln won the majority of tackles when the ball was loose.
By the end, there were sarcastic ‘oles’ from disgruntled away end every time the Reds completed a pass.
After a fairly dull first half in which they trailed, the Reds had played well from half-time up until they scored but did not create enough clear-cut chances and easily could have gone further behind when half-time substitute Neil Farrugia gifted the hosts the ball and Murphy Cooper had to make a fine save to deny Bayliss.
The Imps are third in the table, nine ahead of the Reds who have played three fewer games. They have won their last four home games in the league and have the division’s best record on their own turf with 23 points from ten games.
Barnsley had defenders out but the hosts were without top-scorer James Collins, who has nine career goals against the Reds, but is out for the season with an injury picked up last week.
KEILLOR-DUNN JUST KEEPS SCORING
When Davis Keillor-Dunn scored against Lincoln in March, it was his 14th goal of the season.
This time he moved onto 12 in all competitions in December.
He is the joint top-scorer in the division on nine along with Cardiff’s Yousef Salech, and has 23 goals in 48 games in total in 2025 and 31 for Barnsley in 69.
It is a phenomenal record and one which will surely have drawn attention from other clubs heading into the January transfer window.
Keillor-Dunn did not have his best game on Tuesday, along with most of the other attackers as Reyes Cleary and Patrick Kelly were both below their recent standards despite some bursts of life early in the second half. Vimal Yoganathan was involved in most of Barnsley’s few first half chances before being replaced by Farrugia at the break.
Adam Phillips was used in a holding midfield two with Luca Connell and, although he played some penetrative forward passes which created opportunities, he is not used to the hustle and bustle of a defensive midfield position so was sometimes caught in possession or easy to beat.
ORIENT FEELS CRUCIAL HEADING INTO BUSY PERIOD
The Reds remain marooned in mid-table, six points off both the top six and the bottom four.
They have several games in hand but their defending and general inconsistency makes it difficult to currently imagine them bursting into the top six in the near future.
They are about to enter their busiest period of the season so far which may tell us where they fit into this fairly even-looking third tier. They need to show a lot more toughness if they are to emerge into January in the thick of the promotion push.
One of those matches, on December 29, is against Lincoln who will look to make it three wins in less than two months against the Reds who they also beat at Oakwell in the trophy in November.
This match ended a run of four straight away games, which have brought one league point from a possible six, an exit from the EFL Trophy and progression in the FA Cup to the third round where they will visit Liverpool.
They conceded a late leveller at Stockport, were crushed by bottom Port Vale in the trophy, bounced back impressively with a win and clean sheet at another struggling side Peterborough in the FA Cup then lost at Sincil Bank.
Now they return to Oakwell, where they have only played three league games in 77 days, to host mid-table neighbours Leyton Orient in another important game on Saturday. They need to channel the excellent performance the last time they played there against Luton.
Roberts surely must return if fit on Saturday, probably for de Gevigney, with Bland needing to go back into midfield as Connell is suspended.
The Reds captain appeared to tumble theatrically to the ground at 0-0, following a fine run forward, and received his fifth yellow card of the season for diving. He had started every league game up until that point but it was a baffling way to earn a suspension.
