On Monday, manager Darren Moore hailed a “wonderful day” after their 5-0 victory over Cambridge saw them move up to second in the table.
Josh Windass scored a hat-trick with Michael Smith (penalty) and Liam Palmer also on target. Moore said: “It’s always nice to go up another place with a convincing win. We finished 2022 strong and I wanted us to make a strong start to 2023.
“I thought they were into a low block and to get the early goal sort of disrupts their plans and gives us momentum. From then we managed to get hold of the game, went two-nil up and had a little reminder just before half-time when they hit the bar."
It was a more difficult end to a busy period for Barnsley as they were beaten 3-0 by Bolton Wanders at Oakwell. Head coach Michael Duff, whose side dropped to fifth after suffering a first league defeat since October, said: “Playing with 10 men against any team is tough, but when you’re playing against a good team like Bolton, it’s really tough.
“You get to 40 minutes and we looked pretty comfortable, but we gifted them a goal from absolutely nothing. They didn’t have to work hard and we were 2-0 down. I thought the reaction after half-time was really good, for 20 minutes we had a go but then the fatigue kicks in.
“The five players they bring on are just as good as the five they’ve taken off. In reality they’ve had three shots on target and scored three goals. There are positives but it’s a disappointing day.”
Following the latest round of games, here’s how data experts at FiveThirtyEight predict the table will look after 46 games...
