With Daniel Stendel returning to Barnsley this week full-time for his second stint as head coach, we take a look at his first spell.
BARNSLEY 4, OXFORD UNITED 0 – August 4, 2018
After a positive summer of rebuilding morale following relegation and imprinting his style on a talented team, Stendel’s Reds began with an emphatic win.
Mamadou Thiam netted twice from outside the box in the first half before late goals by Brad Potts and debutant Victor Adeboyejo.
It was followed by a 2-0 win at Bradford then another 4-0 success at Rochdale as Barnsley did not concede in any of their first four league games under Stendel or lose in the first six.
BARNSLEY 2, PETERBOROUGH UNITED 1 – December 26, 2018
Barnsley had lost 1-0 at Wycombe in early December so fell out of the play-off places.
But they rebounded with a 20-game unbeaten run.
After a home draw with fellow promotion-chasers Portsmouth and a win at Blackpool, this was a vital Boxing Day success.
Alex Mowatt opened the scoring then Cauley Woodrow netted a spectacular second.
WALSALL 0, BARNSLEY 1 – March 23, 2019
One of the highlights of the season was Jacob Brown’s last-minute strike through the legs of future Reds goalkeeper Liam Roberts and in front of joyous away end.
The Reds were four points clear in the top two and had kept a remarkable seven successive clean sheets, indebted in this game to Ben Williams’ superb goal-line clearance.
BARNSLEY 2, BLACKPOOL 1 – April 27, 2019
The Reds were on the brink of securing a place in the top two and, after the visitors took the lead, Woodrow and Liam Lindsay sealed the win.
The result meant that they went unbeaten throughout the league season at Oakwell for the first time since 1967/68.
The race for automatic promotion was expected to go to the final day at Bristol Rovers but both Portsmouth and Sunderland surprisingly dropped points on the Tuesday evening, when Barnsley did not play, which sent the Reds to the Championship.
BARNSLEY 1, LUTON TOWN 3 – August 24, 2019
After a tough summer in which Stendel lost key men Lindsay, Ethan Pinnock, Adam Davies and Kieffer Moore, an extremely young side won 1-0 at home to promotion favourites Fulham on the opening day but then did not win again in 18 matches until November 30.
The home league game after Fulham saw them concede an 89th-minute penalty in a 2-2 draw with Charlton then Stendel suffered a league loss for the first time at Oakwell against the Hatters who were also newly-promoted but had brought in more experience.
Former Barnsley captain Jacob Butterfield netted after a minute and James Collins after four before Harry Cornick made it 3-0 after half an hour.
Mallik Wilks pulled one back but the result foretold a season of struggle.
PRESTON NORTH END 5, BARNSLEY 1 – October 5, 2019
Stendel’s final game in change was a harrowing one.
The visitors were remarkably open throughout the first half but Preston took just one of their many chances and Cameron McGeehan levelled against the run of play.
But Barnsley naively kept playing their extremely attacking and risky style in the second half, with disastrous results amid a shambolic defensively display.
Stendel said his side played like a youth team and repeated his call for more experience in the free agent market but was sacked days later.
