Woodrow brace helps Reds go five points clear in second

Cauley Woodrow’s penalty put the hosts ahead early on then the same player scored again midway through the second half, before the visitors netted a penalty deep into injury-time. 

The Reds remain second in League One, still six points behind leaders Luton Town who also won, and five clear of third-placed Portsmouth who lost a 3-0 lead in a 3-3 draw at Southend United. 

They are now unbeaten in 20 home games at since March last year while they have won the last six at Oakwell since Boxing Day.  Wycombe were the last team to defeat Barnsley in a League One game, with a 1-0 success at Adams Park on December 8, but posed their hosts limited problems and had captain Adam El Abd sent off in injury-time.

Daniel Stendel made one change to the side which won 4-1 at Gillingham a week previously with top-scorer Kieffer Moore – who suffered a head injury in that game – being replaced by midfielder Mike Bahre who played just behind Cauley Woodrow in a 4-4-1-1. Substitute Callum Styles, 18, was in the squad for the first time. 

Bahre, on his first league start of 2019, made an early impact as he won a penalty for a clear trip by Luke Bolton and Woodrow netted the spot-kick in the 12th minute. 

Most of the rest of the half saw Barnsley dominate possession and control the game against a visiting side who lacked creativity and sat deep defensively despite conceding an early goal. 

Dani Pinillos almost made it 2-0 with what would have been his first Barnsley goal but his deflected 25-yard shot was clawed out of the top right corner by Ryan Allsop. The goalkeeper made a far easier save from another deflected 25-yard effort, this time a low Jacob Brown strike.

The visitors had a huge chance to level in the 40th minute when Pinillos allowed ex-Red Jason McCarthy to get to the touchline on the right of the box and pull the ball back to Nick Freeman whose eight-yard effort was kept out by a good Adam Davies save. 

It should have been 2-0 just before the break when Alex Mowatt was put clean through – after a very good passing move involving Cameron McGeehan then Woodrow who played him in – but was denied one-on-one by goalkeeper Allsop. 

Wycombe began the second half well but all they had to show for it was a weak Bolton shot from the edge of the box which was straight at Davies. 

Bolton then picked up an injury and spent about nine minutes on the ground receiving treatment before being taken off. That killed Wycombe’s momentum and they did not seem alert after the restart and conceded a second goal to a good Reds move. 

On a break with a numerical advantage over the home defenders, Ryan Hedges – who had come off the bench seconds earlier – played in Brown on the left wing and he crossed low for Woodrow to smash into the roof of the net from ten yards out. It was his 13th goal of the season and fourth in two games.

The Reds had several chances to extend their lead as McGeehan sent one long-range effort wide and saw another easily saved by Allsop who could then only watch as Brown headed a Mowatt corner just wide of his top left corner.  

Woodrow almost scored a hat-trick but his header from a Mowatt corner was tipped over by Allsop then, from another Mowatt corner seconds later, Liam Lindsay nodded over from close range. 

Visiting substitute Nathan Tyson shot straight at Davies from a tight angle but the Chairboys never looked like getting back into a game which became extremely feisty towards the end. There was a series of bookings in the final 20 minutes as well as a red card to visiting captain El Abd, seemingly for pulling the hair of McGeehan who had just been booked for a tackle. 

In the last of ten added minutes – given due to Bolton’s injury – Ethan Pinnock conceded a penalty for a foul on Scott Kashket and Joe Jacobson netted the spot-kick but the final whistle went before the visitors could create any chances to level. 

Barnsley: Davies; Cavare, Pinnock, Lindsay, Pinillos; Brown, McGeehan, Bahre (Adeboyejo 86mins), Mowatt (Dougall 89), Thiam (Hedges 63mins); Woodrow. Subs: Walton, Jackson, Styles, Green.  Goals: Woodrow 12 (pen), 64.  Yellow cards: McGeehan.

Wycombe: Allsop; McCarthy, El-Abd, Jombati, Jacobson; Cowan-Hall (Kashket 68mins), Thompson, Gape, Freeman (Akinfenwa 68); Samuel, Bolton (Tyson 61). Subs: Yates, Stewart, Bean, Bloomfield.    Yellow cards: Tyson, Jombati, McCarthy, Jacobson. Red cards: El-Abd.  Goals: Jacobson 90+10 (pen).