Barnsley 0 Rochdale 1: Elding winner adds to Barnsley's troubles
Former Leeds forward Elding, a free summer signing from Kettering, headed home against the run of play early in the second half to stun Mark Robins's Championship side, who crashed to a 4-0 defeat at QPR in their opening league game on Saturday.
Barnsley midfielder Jacob Butterfield had numerous first-half chances, but failed to break the deadlock when he pulled a shot from the edge of the penalty area wide just before the break.
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Hide AdThe young midfielder fired over the crossbar with an early effort, saw another shot held by Rochdale goalkeeper Josh Lillis and was inches off target with a header in the 38th minute.
Lillis denied Adam Hammill as Barnsley picked up where they had left off after the restart, clutching onto another long-range drive after Nathan Doyle had skewed off target.
Rochdale snatched an unlikely 56th-minute lead.
Joe Thompson swung over a cross from the right and Elding stole in to head home.
Iain Hume and Devaney both missed the target from inside the area as Barnsley rallied and Liam Dickinson contrived to miss from six yards following Jay McEveley's pin-point cross as Dale held on for a shock win.
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Hide AdBarnsley: Steele, Trippier, Foster (Hassell 80), Shackell, McEveley, Butterfield (Devaney 53), Colace, Doyle, Hammill, Lovre (Hume 53), Dickinson. Unused substitutes: Preece, Potter, Gray, Boulding.
Rochdale: Lillis, Wiseman, Holness, Dawson, Widdowson, Kennedy, Jones, Barry-Murphy, Thompson (Done 79), Akpa Akpro (Elding 45), O'Grady. Unused substitutes: Edwards, Flynn, Redshaw, Goodall, Andre.
Referee: G Eltringham (Tyne & Wear).