Reds out of top six after drawing with leaders

The Reds dominated the first half but it was the visitors who took the lead just before the break then Cauley Woodrow levelled early in the second. 

Barnsley dropped out of the play-off places before the game due to Doncaster Rovers’ lunchtime win over Scunthorpe United. The Reds, who are out of the top six for the first time this season, are two points behind sixth-placed Donny.  The Reds had the better chances and played better football throughout the match but missed a host of chances.  Head coach Daniel Stendel made three changes in the back four from the side who lost at Wycombe Wanderers a week previously as Dimitri Cavare, Adam Jackson and Dani Pinillos come in from Jacob Brown, Liam Lindsay and Zeki Fryers. In midfield, Brad Potts replaced Mike Bahre. 

Kieffer Moore flicked on a long ball for his strikepartner Woodrow who volleyed from just outside the box but goalkeeper Craig MacGillivray palmed the ball up into the air and Potts should have scored with the rebound from the right of the box but blazed over. 

MacGillivray also pushed over 20-yard efforts from both Woodrow and Cameron McGeehan who each made very good connections but put their efforts too close to the goalkeeper, who also saved from George Moncur from a tight angle. 

MacGillivray then dropped a right-wing cross to Moore who could have passed to team-mates in the box but instead shot high and wide with the goal gaping under pressure from defenders. 

Portsmouth took the lead against the run of play two minutes before the break when Alex Mowatt lost the ball just outside his box and Gareth Evans found the bottom right corner with a good 20-yard shot.  The visitors almost doubled their lead before the break but Evans’ left-wing free-kick was headed over by Tom Naylor.  Stendel brought off right-back Cavare for Brown at half-time and the Reds struggled to have as much dominance as before the break, reduced to long-range shots which Pinillos and Potts fired over.

Woodrow levelled on 62 minutes when he slid in to touch Potts’ right-wing cross into the bottom left corner from six yards out. It was his sixth goal of the season. 

Portsmouth almost responded five minutes later when Ben Thompson played in Oliver Hawkins on the edge of the box and Davies made a fine save with his right foot. 

Stendel brought on Lloyd Isgrove and Mamadou Thiam on the wings and Barnsley finished the game on top. The big chance came in the 90th minute when Isgrove burst into the box from the right and squared to Moore who turned and fired wide from close range with the goal at his mercy. 

Barnsley: Davies; Cavare (HT), Jackson, Pinnock, Pinillos; Potts (Thiam 80mins), Mowatt, McGeehan, Moncur (Isgrove 63); Moore, Woodrow.  Subs: Greatorex, Lindsay, Bahre, Adeboyejo.  Yellow cards: McGeehan, Woodrow. Goals: Woodrow 61. 

Portsmouth: McGillivray; Thompson, Whatmough, Clarke, Brown; Naylor, Thompson; Lowe, Evans, Curtis (Walkes ; Hawkins. Unused: Bass, Burgess, Close, Donohue, Green, Pitman. Yellow cards: Brown, Naylor, Curtis.  Goals: Evans 43.