Former Reds striker Ashley Fletcher got the only goal early in the second half to move his side out of the Championship’s bottom three and leave his old club rooted to the foot of the table.
The game was played in constant rain and there was a lot of standing water on the pitch which made passing football difficult. Barnsley were probably the better side before conceding but Boro could have added several goals after they took the lead, with goalkeeper Sami Radlinger by far the visitors’ best player.
Gerhard Struber – who has now lost both games as head coach – made two changes from Saturday’s loss at Blackburn Rovers. Toby Sibbick was dropped for the first time in his Barnsley career, with Dimitri Cavare coming in and Luke Thomas was also back in the side at the expense of the injured Aapo Halme. The Reds used a 4-2-3-1 formation with Alex Mowatt and Mike Bahre in central midfield while, from right to left, Thomas, Conor Chaplin and Jacob Brown played behind Cauley Woodrow.
Barnsley started the brighter with Brown, Thomas and Chaplin all having shots blocked in the box, but the hosts had the first major chance. Britt Assombalonga, their £15million signing, beat Bambo Diaby in the area and shot past Sami Radlinger but left-back Ben Williams brilliantly hooked it off the line.
Chaplin had another shot blocked in the box while both Woodrow and Bahre shot straight at home goalkeeper Aynsley Pears from outside the area.
Assombalonga wasted another superb chance to open the scoring when, after Mads Andersen missed a header, substitute Marc Bola brilliantly crossed from the right and the striker was free ten yards out with the goal gaping but Radlinger made a superb block. The goalkeeper was almost beaten by his own player Cavare after rushing out to punch a corner but the right-back’s flicked header went wide.
Barnsley almost took the lead in first half stoppage time but Woodrow shot over from just outside the box after a clever Thomas pass put him in the clear following a fine move.
The Reds also came close just after the interval but Brown’s 20-yard effort looped down onto the crossbar. But it was the hosts who took the lead in the 54th minute when, after Cavare failed to clear, Marcus Tavernier crossed low from the left to the unmarked Fletcher who jinked his way past Radlinger and Andersen who both slipped over and the ex-Red walked the ball into the net.
Barnsley continued to have shots regularly blocked in the home penalty area, Woodrow twice and Chaplin once, without carving out a clear chance.
Boro should have doubled their lead on 72 minutes when Assombalonga’s shot from the right of the box was well saved by Radlinger but the striker picked up the rebound and, with Tavernier and Fletcher free to tap in, managed to pass between his two team-mates.
Radlinger again denied the hosts when Hayden Coulson was put clean through on goal but his shot took a slight touch off the goalkeeper’s legs which meant it went just wide of the bottom right corner. The inspired Austrian goalkeeper then denied both Assombalonga and Tavernier from ten yards out on the left of the box within a minute of each other as Barnsley’s defence was breached very easily and regularly towards the end of an increasingly one-sided contest.
Radlinger was beaten after rushing out of his box in injury-time and being rounded by Assombalonga on the left wing but, for the second time in the game, the striker’s shot was blocked from going in by Williams.
Barnsley: Radlinger; Cavare, Andersen, Diaby, B Williams; Mowatt, Bahre (McGeehan 69mins), Thomas (Schmidt 74), Woodrow; Chaplin, Brown Unused: Collins, Sibbick, J Williams, Dougall, Oduor.
Middlesbrough: Pears; Ayala, Fry, Howson; Dijksteel (Bola 23mins), Tavernier, McNair (Clayton 78), Wing, Cousin; Assombalonga, Fletcher Unused: Mejias, Wood, O’Neill, Liddle, Hackney. Yellow cards: Howson. Goals: Fletcher 54.
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