Sheffield Wednesday vs Barnsley. Sky Bet Championship.
HillsboroughAttendance27,097.
Saturday 28 October 2017 17:18, UK
Harvey Barnes scored a superb goal for Barnsley to secure a hard-fought 1-1 draw in the South Yorkshire derby against Sheffield Wednesday in the Sky Bet Championship.
Both sides had won only one of their previous five games and they could not be separated as Barnsley ended a run of three straight defeats at Hillsborough. The Owls stay in the bottom half of the table with the result heaping more pressure on boss Carlos Carvalhal.
Sheffield Wednesday started the match brightly with more possession and took the lead through Adam Reach. The hosts failed to capitalise on large spells with the ball though and the Tykes struck back with a wonder strike from youngster Barnes to earn a point.
After some great defending to stop Tom Bradshaw getting a shot away, stand-in skipper Tom Lees was involved in the action at the other end. He rose at the back post to head in a looping cross but was denied at point-blank range by Adam Davies' right hand.
Kieran Lee was inches away from breaking the deadlock in the 30th minute with a spectacular drive from long range that smashed against the bar. The Owls received some good fortune four minutes later though when Gary Hooper dribbled past several Barnsley players and gave the ball to Reach, whose shot looped over a helpless Davies in goal.
Despite the setback against his former team, Davies was in inspired form, making another close-range save from Lees at the back post, this time using his legs to somehow keep the defender off the scoresheet.
The visitors were being put under huge pressure straight after the break, with the hosts looking to put the game to bed. Barry Bannan played some great one-twos to work himself some space in the box and provided a delicate chipped effort but Andy Yiadom, making his first start since early August, got back to head the shot off the line and behind for a corner.
Leicester loanee Barnes went close to levelling the scores with a powerful run through the home defence to the by-line but his shot clipped the underside of the bar. But Barnes did find the net on 67 minutes, the England youth international finding space on the edge of the box and sending a sensational curling effort into the top corner, leaving Kieren Westwood with no chance in goal.
With the game in the balance, both teams pushed for a winner. Davies rescued Barnsley again with a couple of great saves and referee Anthony Taylor disallowed a goal for visiting centre-back Liam Lindsay, but neither side could do enough to take all three points.
Carlos Carvalhal: "I think the highlights will show the history of this game. If you see the highlights, I believe it will show a lot of chances from our part. We had more threats, we played near the goal of Barnsley. Before we scored our first goal, we had three or four chances to score, even in the first 15 minutes.
"The opponents played with organisation, of course, they scored one goal. But they scored one goal from two, three situations they were near our goal. I remember three times the ball was by the last line. The goalkeeper saved with his feet and there was one defensive header off the line. We have much more than this."
Paul Heckingbottom: "I always want three points but I think we have to sort of take that in the end, especially after the start we had. We spoke at half-time, we tried to do it in a calm way because we definitely started on the back foot. It was just a case of not carrying out instructions in terms of what we wanted to do to make the game easier for ourselves and that's what happens against a good side.
"I'm not taking anything away from Wednesday but we know that was our doing and then obviously, on the plus side is, it takes a lot to then turn that around. The determination, the running power, the willingness to put their body on the line is what got us back into that game. So there was lots of things wrong but we turned it around and then more than matched them."
