Victory over Keith Hill’s Rochdale at Oakwell tomorrow would put Barnsley on their joint best unbeaten home league run in more than half a century.
The Reds’ last league loss at home was a 2-0 beating by Millwall in the Championship on March 17, after which they have won ten and drawn seven of their 17 fixtures – including wins in their last three home games over Peterborough United, Charlton Athletic and Bradford City.
If they avoid defeat tomorrow, they will have equalled the 18-match unbeaten run of home league games in the 2005/06 promotion season under Andy Ritchie as they did not lose at Oakwell from September until the end of the season. The best run before that was 23 matches in the 1967/68 campaign while the club record is 36 in the 1930s.
Daniel Stendel’s side are fifth in League One while tomorrow’s visitors are 20th, one point and one place above the relegation zone.
After a 4-1 win against League One’s lowest scorers Wimbledon on Saturday, Barnsley – who have conceded the fewest goals – now face the division’s leakiest defence.
Rochdale have the worst defensive record in the EFL after conceding 59 goals in their 29 matches this season, almost three times the number let in by the Reds.
They lost five successive matches, conceding 19 and scoring three, then drew 1-1 at home to ten man Fleetwood Town on Saturday.
The equaliser was netted by Ian Henderson, who is among the league’s top-scorers with 14 goals. Dale have conceded the most away goals in the division but their 21 netted on their travels is the best tally of any side outside the top seven.
Rochdale boss Hill was in charge of Barnsley for a 75-game spell between the summer of 2011 and his sacking in late December 2012. He then returned to his previous club Rochdale where he has this season passed 550 games in their dugout.
The 49-year-old won at Oakwell in his first spell with Dale, a 1-0 League Cup success in August 2010, then beat them 3-0 at Spotland in August 2015. But his other returns to Barnsley have brought 5-0 and 6-1 defeats.
Hill said: “A lot has changed since I was at Barnsley. I love the way they have done things since Paul Heckingbottom was there and the recruitment team that they have. It’s brilliant, they spend money on players, develop them and try to sell them for more money, while getting success on the pitch.
"I really did enjoy working for that club, it was a great experience with good people. I am glad that they are doing well.”
Dale were beaten 4-0 at home to the Reds in August this season with Kieffer Moore netting a hat-trick after Brad Potts had opened the scoring.
Head coach Daniel Stendel said: “The first game was one of the best games of the season for us, especially away. But this is a new game and we start at 0-0. We want to play good football and keep our form from the last weeks but it won’t be easy and we need to work hard.”
Three of Dale’s defence tomorrow may be former Barnsley players. Matt Done, the 30-year-old forward who is in his third spell at Rochdale, is currently being used at left-back. He has played 30 matches this season and scored once while centre-back Jim McNulty, 33, has recently returned to the side.
Rochdale have also signed former Barnsley loanee Ryan McLaughlin from Blackpool to replace right-back Joe Rafferty who was sold to Preston.
