Patrick Schmidt takes Barnsley FC survival fight to the last day

After a tough first season in English football, the young Austrian’s dramatic intervention in the third minute of stoppage time was the sort of special moment that he could have scarcely dreamt about.

The forward may have scored a 90th-minute goal to clinch Barnsley’s first away victory of the campaign at Millwall just before Christmas, but the importance of this particular strike – just his third for the Reds – was in a different stratosphere.

Barnsley were staring down the barrel of a third relegation to the third tier in the space of seven seasons, with their agony compounded by an afternoon of sheer torture against Nottingham Forest, during a game in which they did everything but score.

After their hugely unfortunate defeat at Leeds United when their performance also deserved so much more, Sunday resembled Groundhog Day in a game when Barnsley gave their all, but floated around like a butterfly and unfortunately stung like one.

That was until Schmidt – whose birthday is on the day that Barnsley’s fate will now be determined at Brentford – came to the party.

An ‘emotional explosion’ – in his own words – from Reds head coach Gerhard Struber saw him race onto the pitch and embrace Schmidt after his strike and few would begrudge him that.

Only the stone-hearted and those with vested interests at the foot of the Championship would also resent Barnsley from taking their fight to the final day.

It is the least they merit after the way in which Struber has lifted them from a stricken and hopeless looking position when he took over in November – with Barnsley winning just once in their opening 16 matches.

But this was ultimately Schmidt’s day and an early birthday present ahead of Wednesday’s trip to Griffin Park.

Barnsley must repeat Sunday’s heroics – and a fair bit more besides – while praying that results are benevolent elsewhere.

Schmidt said: “It is also my agent’s birthday and we already talked about it that we can celebrate together if we stay in the league on Wednesday. That would be a very nice feeling.

“The most important thing is that we stay in the league. I just cannot see this team going down. We have such a good character and the mentality of the team is amazing, especially for this age.

“It was a very special moment for me and an amazing feeling to score, especially in this situation when you have to win otherwise you go down, for sure.

“We had to win and the performance was amazing and the feeling after it was indescribable.

“I could not talk to my friends and family after the game as we (substitutes) had some runs.

“But they are watching every game on iFollow and they support me as much as they can from Austria and watch every second when I am not playing as they always want to support our team.”

Prior to Schmidt’s dramatic intervention, there was plenty to admire with Barnsley’s desire, energy and tempo not indicative of a side who have thrown the towel in.

But the debilitating lack of ruthless edge which had haunted them since football’s restart made another wholly unwanted appearance.

As befits a side propping up the table, luck was also absent.

That was showcased just after the half-hour mark when Luke Thomas’s pained expression told a thousand stories after seeing his fine drive clip the woodwork with Jordan Smith – who spent a brief spell on emergency loan at Barnsley in late 2018 – beaten.

It was also manifested in the second half when Marcel Ritzmaier’s deflected drive hit the post. Stubbornly, it would just not go in for Barnsley with a crippling third successive game without a goal – and third consecutive goalless stalemate at Oakwell – likely to finish their season.

Struber made a bold call to drop top-scorer Cauley Woodrow from the starting line-up, as he sat on the bench for the first time since January 21 following a nine-match streak without a goal.

Woodrow was called for at the interval after a first half in which Barnsley dominated, but helped themselves to no tangible reward.

Smith did make a key block just before the break to thwart Jacob Brown when he was momentarily in the clear, but once again, it was an agonising moment which went begging for the hosts and went against them.

The Forest keeper had been called into early action to make saves to deny Mowatt and Thomas from distance, but they were regulation ones with Forest – taking no chances with five at the back when they were out of possession – happy to sit in, mindful they needed just a point to secure play-off participation.

Forest’s incursions were rare. Lewis Grabban fired a decent chance wide after Ben Watson picked the pocket of Marcel Ritzmaier, while Jack Walton gathered a clever flick from Nuno Da Costa, but that was about it.

The risk averse ‘anti-football’ policy continued after the break and it looked like succeeding, despite a fair bit of home pressure.

The likes of Joe Worrall and Michael Dawson got in the way of most things as Barnsley’s desperation grew by the minute.

Just when the lights were in danger of going out, cue Schmidt, who turned the ball home following Brown’s knockdown. The prelude to pandemonium.

Football, bloody hell.

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