Barnsley vs Stoke City. Sky Bet Championship.
Oakwell StadiumAttendance12,512.
Barnsley 1-1 Stoke City: Lewis Baker strikes late to deny Tykes
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Barnsley and Stoke City at Oakwell as Lewis Baker netted deep into stoppage-time for the Potters to deny the Tykes a precious win in their battle to beat the drop.
Tuesday 8 March 2022 23:12, UK
An equaliser from Lewis Baker deep into stoppage time snatched a point for Stoke in a 1-1 draw against Barnsley.
A stunning strike from Domingos Quina with 20 minutes remaining had seemingly won it for the home side, only for Baker to pop up at the death.
Barnsley boss Poya Asbaghi made one change to the team that lost at Derby on Saturday, with Liam Kitching coming in.
Stoke manager Michael O'Neill made five changes to his team following the home defeat to Blackpool, with Joe Allen, James Chester, Jordan Thompson, Jacob Brown and Demeaco Duhaney joining the starting XI.
Remy Vita let fly from range early on for the Tykes but did not trouble goalkeeper Jack Bonham.
Baker was inches away from giving the Potters the lead but his curling effort from distance cannoned back off a post.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis was allowed a free header from a Stoke corner but the defender could only place his header wide.
Callum Brittain then stung the palms of Bonham but he got down well and stopped the effort comfortably.
Phil Jagielka's header was the last chance of the half but the save was routine for Tykes goalkeeper Brad Collins and the sides were all-square going into the break.
Stoke came close to taking a lightning-quick second-half lead but Collins did enough to stop Brown from tapping in.
The away side put a significant amount of teasing crosses into the box from the left-hand side but no Stoke bodies were there to convert.
Play was stopped for a brief period as a fan in the home end received medical attention.
Barnsley forward Domingos Quina lit up the match in the 70th minute with a stunning goal. He evaded several challenges from the Stoke defence before turning the ball onto his left foot and curling a beautiful strike past Collins to give the Tykes a valuable lead.
The Potters brought on veteran Steven Fletcher and fellow striker Tyrese Campbell in search of a leveller. Josh Maja almost found it but his effort from the edge of the box went agonisingly wide.
The pressure finally paid off in the fifth minute of time added on when Baker struck from distance with his left foot and the ball flew past Collins to give Stoke a much-deserved equaliser.
Barnsley would have gone above Derby and been three points from safety with victory but they remain in 23rd place, while Stoke are 15th.
What the managers said...
Barnsley's Poya Asbaghi: "Conceding that late is a tough one to take. Of course it feels like a loss conceding in injury time. The first half isn't what we wanted. Stoke were more direct than maybe we even expected and coming in at half-time we felt we needed to be more aggressive. The second half was better from us and it was a much more even game. It was a really good goal from Dom.
"We could have got a second, there were a few penalty shouts. Let's say we've not been so fortunate with 50-50 penalty decisions in my time here. It looks suspicious but I'm not the one to decide. We've had the lead in previous games where we've been able to protect the lead in a good way. Overall I thought we defended well but for the goal we have to be better, we only have ourselves to blame."
Stoke's Michael O'Neill: "I thought we played some good football and I'm disappointed to not win the game. We had a lot of good chances. Tonight we needed a good reaction to the game on Saturday, which was poor. I was impressed with Barnsley tonight. They played at a good tempo. In the second half they came into the game a little bit more, it was end-to-end and they scored a brilliant goal.
"The reaction to going behind was very good, we kept on going. I thought we showed really good character. We haven't scored many late goals this season and for a lot of teams at the top in this league, it's important. We need that as part of our make-up. Our problem this season has been when we're dominant we don't take our chances. My players did it on their own tonight, so testament to them."
