Barnsley FC handed League One reality check as Michael Duff blasts poor second-half showing against Wycombe Wanderers

If Barnsley’s first five League One games are anything to go by, the club are in for a campaign of stabilisation with enough highs to offset the lows.

The Reds are a club in transition under new head coach Michael Duff and cannot expect to land on a promotion-winning formula overnight.

Duff has put his faith in youth and there will be bumps in the road back to the Championship, a league that swallowed Barnsley whole last season.

The Reds finished 35 points better off than Wycombe on their way to the Championship play-offs in 2020-21 but 15 months is a long time in football.

As Barnsley sank without a trace after failing to build on their promotion push, Gareth Ainsworth’s side settled back into life in League One and narrowly missed out on an immediate return to the Championship.

Although they suffered a Wembley hangover in the early weeks of this season, the Chairboys gave Barnsley an idea of what it takes to mix it at the top of League One on Saturday afternoon.

With former Oakwell favourites Alfie Mawson and Josh Scowen in their ranks, Wycombe showed superior quality in key moments to inflict a third defeat of the season on their hosts.

The Reds did most of the running in the first half but found themselves one down at the break courtesy of Anis Mehmeti’s 37th-minute thunderbolt.

Barnsley were unable to mount a response after the break and there was no way back when Dominic Gape lobbed Brad Collins from 50 yards.
Nick Freeman rounded off a miserable afternoon for the Reds with another stunning strike late on. Three special goals that left Duff scratching his head.

“I’m disappointed with the second half,” he said. “I thought we were the better team in the first half without being brilliant.

“They scored with their only shot on target and their keeper made a few good saves.

“The second half was nowhere near good enough. We put an extra body in the middle of the pitch to try and win second balls but we didn’t win any second balls.

“I think their average age was five years older than us and they ran harder than us.

“They scored three worldies. I don’t think they’ll play a game this season where they’ll score three better goals than that.

“That might distort the scoreline but it doesn’t distort my opinion on the second-half performance which I didn’t think was good enough.”

Fresh from producing their best display of the season to date in the 3-0 win over Bristol Rovers, it was a reality check for the Reds.

Had they scored when they were on top in the first half, it may have been a different story.

Barnsley edged a cagey opening and went close eight minutes in when Robbie Cundy saw a header well tipped over by Wycombe new boy Max Stryjek.

It was a slow burner of a game with both teams struggling to carve out clear-cut opportunities.

Just as the hosts threatened to take the game by the scruff of the neck, they were hit by a sucker punch on the break.

David Wheeler was left on his own in behind and the ball was worked out to the edge of the box where Mehmeti fired a fine strike across Collins and into the far corner.

It was Wycombe’s first shot on target and Mehmeti made it count in some style.

Barnsley rallied before the break but were distinctly second best when the sides returned, much to Duff’s frustration.

After Mehmeti somehow failed to turn the ball home on the line after Garath McCleary’s effort rebounded off a post, Gape produced a moment of brilliance to double Wycombe’s lead. There was no topping Gape’s wonder strike but Freeman had a good go, piling more misery on the Reds with a superb 25-yard effort.

After the high of the emphatic win over Bristol Rovers, Duff saw another side of new-look Barnsley.

“On Tuesday we had nine or 10 players play really well but you get that four or five games a year,” he said.

“We did well on Tuesday but it’s one performance. We tried to drum it into them: Wycombe had come from three defeats.

“You can’t be that good on Tuesday and that poor in the second half in the space of four or five days.

“The most important thing is we learn that just because we were good in the last game doesn’t mean we’ll be good in the next one and if we go 1-0 down against a good team, it’s not the end of the road.”

Consistency may be a long time in coming but Barnsley are learning some valuable lessons along the way.

Barnsley: Collins, Andersen, Cundy, Kitching, Williams, Benson, Connell (Wolfe 59), Styles (Hondermarck 77), Thomas, Cole, Aitchison (Norwood 59). Unused substitutes: Walton, Cadden, McCarthy, Marsh.

Wycombe Wanderers: Stryjek, Grimmer, Gape, Forino, Wheeler (McCarthy 85), Wing, Mehmeti (Freeman 71), McCleary (Al-Hamadi 82), Mawson, Obita, Scowen. Unused substitutes: Dickinson, Jacobson, Horgan, Pattenden.

Referee: O Yates.