Birmingham City 1 Barnsley 2 - Early birthday gift for Cauley Woodrow
CAULEY WOODROW went from villain to hero and bagged an early birthday present as he paved the way for Barnsley’s 2-1 Championship win at Birmingham.
The striker – who turns 26 on Wednesday – equalised with a penalty in the 71st minute to make up for two first-half misses, before Callum Styles grabbed the winning goal in the 84th minute.
Before that, it looked like Scott Hogan’s 56th-minute strike might give the Blues their first win in six games, ending a run of 326 minutes without a goal in open play.
Barnsley made the brighter start and created three early chances.
Mads Andersen’s ball over the top put Woodrow in on goal, only for the striker to fire wildly over.
Then a quick free kick by Alex Mowatt and a mistake by Maxime Colin saw Victor Adeboyejo wriggle through – but Conor Chaplin fired woefully wide with a good sight of goal.
Chaplin then fed Woodrow, but the former Fulham youngster lashed high and wide again.
The Blues upped the tempo after the break and Sanchez saw a shot deflected just over after cutting in from the right. And the hosts took the lead in the 56th minute with a lovely move.
A backheel from Leko caught Barnsley’s defence napping on their left and Colin crossed to Hogan, who made no mistake with a cool, low first-time finish.
The visitors continued to be wasteful before Callum Brittain was fouled by Kristian Pedersen and Woodrow made no mistake from the spot.
The turnaround was complete when Styles drilled home first time from just inside the box.
Birmingham City: Etheridge, Roberts, Dean, Clarke-Salter (Friend 80), Colin, Ivan Sanchez, San Jose, Pedersen (Bela 80), McGree (Sunjic 81), Leko (Toral 85), Hogan (Jutkiewicz 85). Unused substitutes: Andres, Kieftenbeld, Gardner, Dacres-Cogley.
Barnsley: Walton, Sollbauer , Helik, Andersen, Brittain, Mowatt (Palmer 77),Kane (James 77), Styles, Adeboyejo (Frieser 78), Chaplin (Thomas 77), Woodrow (Halme 86). Unused substitutes: Schmidt, Oduor, Miller, Collins.
Referee: T Harrington (Cleveland).
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