Barnsley vs Queens Park Rangers. Sky Bet Championship.
Oakwell Stadium.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash at Oakwell
Tuesday 27 October 2020 22:40, UK
Valerien Ismael made the perfect start as Barnsley head coach by leading his new side to a 3-0 victory over 10-man QPR at Oakwell.
A penalty from Cauley Woodrow, as well as a strike from Conor Chaplin and an own goal from Yoann Barbet gave Barnsley their first Championship win of the season.
Rangers started well and were camped inside the Barnsley half for the opening 10 minutes before the home side eventually grew into the game but could not fashion themselves any chances.
The first action of note came in the 26th minute when Barnsley got their opportunity to open the scoring.
Callum Styles attempted a through ball into the path of Woodrow. Barbet slid in to make the interception, but the ball still managed to find its way through to Barnsley's top goalscorer and defender Rob Dickie pulled him down when it looked for all the world Woodrow would score.
The QPR centre-back was sent off as a result for being the last man, then Woodrow stepped up and converted the spot-kick to get his fourth goal of the season.
Ten minutes later and Chaplin doubled the lead for the Tykes. A pass was played into Woodrow and with a deft little flick he played in Dominik Frieser. The Austrian cut the ball back to Chaplin, who after a heavy touch to make himself the space, squeezed the ball in at the near post despite Seny Dieng's best efforts in the QPR goal.
Six minutes after the restart and Barnsley should have made it 3-0. A wonderful cross in from Alex Mowatt found Chaplin unmarked six yards out. The striker tried to chest the ball into the net for his second goal of the game but did not make enough meaningful contact and the ball just fell to Dieng.
QPR's best chance of the game came from a corner, when Tom Carroll's ball in found the head of Dominic Ball, but his effort went narrowly over.
Twenty minutes into the second half and the win was wrapped up for Barnsley.
Frieser found Woodrow inside the area, but his touch was heavy and evaded him. Anticipating a challenge from the striker, Barbet stuck out a foot to put in a challenge but diverted the ball past his own 'keeper to complete the visitors' misery.
Barnsley had a number of chances in the final 20 minutes to add to their tally. Substitutes Patrick Schmidt and Elliot Simoes saw efforts saved by the Rangers stopper, who was resolute in the final stages.
Barnsley's Valerien Ismael: "It's always very good if you can start with a win. It gives you confidence and the players believe more in the words you tell them when you win. The first 10 minutes were very difficult because QPR played very well. They were strong and aggressive, and got a lot of crosses into the box.
"It was tough work for us but after 15 or 20 minutes we came back into the game and it was much better from us. We created a lot of good situations and the red card came from one of those good situations. This is how I want us to play, to try and get into the box quickly.
"After this we controlled the game and we always kept the pressure high all the time. It doesn't matter if you win 3-0 or lose 3-0, I want us to keep going from the first minute to the last."
QPR's Mark Warburton: "It's 3-0 so we're obviously frustrated and disappointed, but it all changed on the red card incident unfortunately. I thought we were very good for the first 25 minutes or so. I thought we started really well, and we were camped in their half.
"You've got to score in those periods and take advantage of that dominance. If you don't do it the game is on a knife edge still. Barnsley came back into it and started switching the ball which we knew they would do and we were comfortable on the ball and defending our goal, but the red card changed the whole dynamic."
