IT was a tale of two halves at Glanford Park on Saturday as Scunthorpe United hosted Barnsley in an entertaining 2-2 draw.
Barnsley, whose sensational performance against Rochdale on Tuesday night sent out a clear message to their League One rivals, could not get into their stride in the first half and struggled to control possession.
Managerless Scunthorpe, who sacked Nick Daws after their 5-0 humiliation in front of their home fans last time out against Fleetwood, took the lead early on through talisman Josh Morris.
Despite both sides coming out of the blocks positively in front of a 5,579 crowd, Barnsley's lack of tempo was taken advantage of by the hosts who broke and Andy Dales, who jinked into Adam Davies's box, was brought down by Dimitri Cavare.
Referee Nicholas Kinseley did not hesitate in awarding the home side a penalty and Morris stepped up to convert in the eighth minute, despite captain Adam Davies diving the right way.
It's often the case when a club parts company with its manager that their players perform and that was the case in a comfortable first half for the home side who, under caretaker Andy Dawson, looked good and were well worth their 1-0 lead at the interval.
The Reds' problems worsened when Cameron Burgess glanced in a header from George Thomas's fantastic ball in to put Scunthorpe two-up in the 51st minute.
But Stendel's side, having already lost their unblemished defensive record and facing their first defeat of the league season, came out firing and halved their deficit nine minutes later through Kieffer Moore's header - his fourth goal in two games.
The goal kick-started a revitalised Reds' afternoon and it was one-way traffic which led to Dimitri Cavare's equaliser in the 68th minute.
After Brad Potts went close to evening up the game twice, it was the right-back's brilliant run on the edge of the box which gave him a yard and the 23-year-old found the back of the net with a glorious strike to put Barnsley level.
The Reds pushed forward in the hunt of a winner afterwards but it was Scunthorpe's Andy Dales who perhaps should have scored when put through on goal.
The game opened up somewhat and either side could have found a winner in the closing stages, but a fifth goal of the match wasn't to be and a point was a fair result for both.
