Mick McCarthy arm-wrestles Barnsley into Valerien Ismael's first draw

In the circumstances he found himself in on Wednesday night as manager of Cardiff City he would have been delighted to see his side fight back from that to take a 2-2 draw from a very McCarthyist match.

If anything summed it up, it was the Midlands accent of referee Andy Woolmer shouting out to Cauldrew Woodrow and Aden Flint, back with the Welsh club after a brief loan at Sheffield Wednesday, “Just stop grabbing each others shirts, okay?” then blowing his whistle seconds later as they ignored him as soon as the ball was thrown in to play.

This was less a game, more a battle of long balls, long throws, second balls, percentages, neck-ache for the few in the stands and headaches for those on the pitch. McCarthy and his opposite number, Valerien Ismael, used to be dominant centre-backs in their day and have no qualms about asking their players to get the ball forward quickly and get physical. They would both have enjoyed the evening – just not, perhaps, ever at the same time.

Having beaten a more refined Norwich City at Oakwell on Saturday, Barnsley were simply better at it for an hour. During the warm-up they wore T-shits wishing Cardiff's Sol Bamba all the best in his fight against non-Hodgkin lymphonia, then packed them away and got down to business.

Once Mads Andersen scored his first goal for the club,Barnsley looked on course for their first Championship win, but instead they had to settle for a first point of 2021, and Ismael's first draw as Reds manager.

They set the tone in the eighth minute of a game which had still to take shape, hoisting the ball into the penalty area and seeing it bundled into the net off Flint's head. In a game that was not for the faint-hearted, Woolmer's decision just that, Woodrow penalised for fouling former Huddersfield Town goalkeeper Alex Smithies.

They were not deterred.

Ismael clapped his approval for Barnsley's football from the touchline and they continued in the same uncompromising vein.

The chance had come from the left and it would be their most fruitful line of attack, with Callum Brittain's crossing sprinkling out-of-place quality on the arm-wrestle.

Dominik Frieser was lining up a long throw in the 20th minute when he decided to play it to Brittain instead. When the wing-back returned it, Frieser produced a wonderful cross and Andersen a header which was its equal, thumping into the back corner of the net.

Alex Mowatt shot high and off target when a ball came out to him under pressure and Smithies juggled but dealt with a long-range effort from Woodrow. Ten minutes later he needed to make a much better save from Curtis Nelson – one of Cardiff's compact back four – at a deep free-kick.

Woodrow ought to have made it two when Brittain played the ball into him but his volleys met with “oohs” from the smattering in the stands.

Brad Collins had played at the weekend as Barnsley's “cup goalkeeper” but kept his place in an unchanged team and for a long time he was given little opportunity to show what he could do. Flint's 19th-minute header lacked power and Junior Hoilett was off balance and off target with his from Will Vaulks's deep 43rd-minute ball.

When Woodrow doubled Barnsley's lead with a 53rd-minute header from Mowatt's deep free-kick, the pattern looked set.

Kieffer Moore was working off starvation rations against his old club in the first half but after 69 minutes he scored his inevitable equaliser.

Sheyi Oji had scored at a 59th-minute corner the hosts were incensed by. That said, they had the chance to clear it and did not, Josh Murphy playing the ball back in for the winger ti equalise.

Collins saved from Moore's header a minute later but Barnsley failed to take the hint, leaving him unmarked at the far post.

Both sides tried until the final whistle to win it but Victor Adeboyejo could not quite get to a left-wing cross. And Callum Styles volleyed over.

Barnsley: Collins; Sibbick (Solbauer 79), Helik, Andersen; Brittain, Mowatt, Palmer, Styles; Frieser (Morris 59), Woodrow, Adeboyejo.

Unused substitutes: Walton, Williams, Kane, Chaplin, Schmidt, Oduor, Omar.

Cardiff City: Smithies; Ng, Flint, Nelson, Bagan; Vaulks; Ojo (Pack 90), Bacuna (Morrison 59), Ralls, Hoillet (Murphy 50); Moore.

Unused substitutes: Phillips, Glatzel, Wilson, Sang, Harris, Davies.

Referee: A Woolmer (Northamptonshire)

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