Barnsley end winless run with victory over Hull

The last-placed Reds have cut the gap between them and safety from five to eight points while they are two behind second-bottom Stoke City. They were the better team throughout the game and deserved their first victory since the opening day of the season.

Gerhard Struber, in his first home game as head coach, made two changes from the side that lost to Middlesbrough three days earlier. Jordan Williams and Aapo Halme returned from injury lay-offs to replace Dimitri Cavare, who dropped out of the squad, and the benched Luke Thomas. 

It was a diamond formation with Halme in front the back four, Mowatt and Mike Bahre the wide midfielders while Cauley Woodrow played behind strikers Jacob Brown and Conor Chaplin.  The first quarter of the match was very dull, with a succession of corners for both teams but no shots except a Woodrow effort from outside the box which sailed over. 

The opener came in the 23rd minute when, after some pinball in the visitors’ box, Mowatt brilliantly curled a shot from just outside the area into the top left corner.  Barnsley thought they should have had a penalty for handball seconds after scoring following a burst into the box by Bahre. 

Hull had been disappointing in the first half but missed a huge chance to level on 41 minutes when, after hesitant defending by the home centre-backs, top-scorer Jarrod Bowen was through on goal but dragged his effort wide of the bottom left corner. 

Mowatt tried to net a second long-range strike seconds before the break but his 30-yard free-kick was pushed around the right post by goalkeeper George Long. 

The Reds had been the better side in the first half with Hull, who came into the match as one of the form sides of the division, well below their best before the break. The visitors had more chances after the interval but the Reds still played at a higher level throughout the match.  

Hull’s manager, the former Barnsley midfielder Grant McCann, made two chances at half-time including the introduction of Tom Eaves after they did not use a recognised striker in the first half. 

The Reds thought they had doubled their lead ten minutes after the interval when Chaplin bundled in a Mowatt cross from a yard out but the flag was up for offside. 

City nearly levelled on 63 minutes after superb work on the left wing by Kamil Grosicki and Eaves who cut the ball back to Bowen whose 15-yard shot was narrowly wide of the bottom right corner. 

Brown hooked a volley wide wide from Chaplin’s left-wing cross but soon the hosts doubled the lead on 75 minutes. An excellent step over by Brown opened the visiting defence up then Mowatt played in Bahre who finished nicely for his first goal of the season. 

The visitors replied on 81 minutes when Grosicki’s left-wing cross was headed back across goal by Eaves and substitute Keane Lewis-Potter nodded in on the line.

City did not create a clear chance for a leveller and the hosts secured the win deep in injury-time when they counter-attacked then, after good work by substitute Luke Thomas, Brown’s cross was sensationally volleyed in by Chaplin from the edge of the box. 

Barnsley (4-2-3-1): Radlinger; J Williams, Andersen, Diaby, B Williams; Halme, Mowatt, Bahre (Thomas 82mins), Woodrow (Schmidt 89);  Brown, Chaplin,  Subs: Collins, Dougall,, Sibbick, Oduor, Thiam.  Goals: Mowatt 23, Bahre 75, Chaplin 90+4. 

Hull (4-2-3-1): Long; Lichaj, De Wijs, Burke, Elder; Batty, Irvine; Grosicki, Honeyman (Lopes HT), Bowler; Bowen (Eaves HT).  Subs: Ingram, Tafazolli, Kingsley, Pennington, Lewis-Potter.  Yellow cards: Irvine.  Goals: Lewis-Potter 81.