'˜Right place, right time' - Barnsley savour last-gasp leveller to deny Sheffield Wednesday

Neither will MacDonald’s fellow derby goal-scorer Sam Winnall, who – somewhat inevitably – bit the hand that used to feed him before he and his Sheffield Wednesday colleagues were provided with some food for thought at the final whistle.

Barnsley head coach Paul Heckingbottom joked after the match that he was not sure if MacDonald was in credit despite his dramatic ‘93rd-minute’ equaliser after scoring an unfortunate own goal in the Reds’ previous match at Norwich City and in the reverse fixture against the Owls at Hillsborough.

For those delirious home supporters who shared in his unbridled joy at the Pontefract Road end following his leveller, he most definitely was as the defender gilded the recent signing of a new contract in the best possible fashion.

MacDonald will have proved immensely popular with one team-mate in particula, namely, former Wednesday goalkeeper Adam Davies, whose 50th-minute blooper provided Winnall with his moment of schadenfreude after being barracked continually by Reds fans, one of whom threw a toy pig in his direction in the first few minutes.

On his goal on a dramatic afternoon, MacDonald, who picked the perfect time to net his first league goal in Reds colours, said: “It is probably up there with one of the best moments I have had on a football pitch, that is for sure.

“It was a great ball in and I was in the right place at the right time and guided it in.

“I don’t know where I was when I was celebrating, to be honest. But the fans were excellent.

“I could not breathe after the celebration and we could smell blood and we tried to take that. But this result is one for the fans and we will try and enjoy it.

“All the lads were bang at it and it would have been disappointing to lose, but I am glad we got a point.

“Their goal was one of those things. Mistakes happen on the pitch and it is how ‘Davo’ reacts from it that counts.

“I have put a few in the wrong net this season, so it was finally nice to get one in the right end.”

Given a tumultuous past 15 months, the late events were just typical Barnsley – a team who you write off at your peril and who pen their own scripts.

Sensing blood, it should come as no surprise to those who have witnessed the Reds’ remarkable story since Christmas 2015 that they could easily have been celebrating victory following a storming late power surge, which saw Wednesday hang on for dear life.

They did, with a combination of brilliance from Keiren Westwood and an equally fine goaline clearance from Morgan Fox that denied Barnsley a spectacular win.

For Wednesday, a point at Oakwell was hardly the worst result in the world – but given that they were so tantalisingly close to all three, they headed back down the A61 nursing a few wounds.

But given their propensity for key stoppage-time goals this season, which has seen them net in dramatic fashion against the likes of Rotherham United, Preston, Brentford, Bristol City and Nottingham Forest, they could not berate things too much.

Perhaps the most justifiable grievance for the 5,009 Wednesdayites was their side’s failure to go for the throat and grab a killer second goal after Winnall’s gift opener on 50 minutes.

Against a side like Barnsley, it was asking for trouble – although Wednesday were coping well enough until MacDonald’s late close-range header.

Yet the Reds wholly merited their point against an Owls side who scored from a rare effort on target.

Adam Hammill – seeking to make amends following his dismissal at S6 in December – was at the heart of the hosts’ best moments in the first half and it was fitting that he supplied the free-kick for MacDonald’s leveller.

Earlier, Wednesday had nosed in front after Davies’s abject moment in his 100th game for the club – with him being dispossessed by the persistent Adam Reach as he tried to shepherd the ball over the dead-ball line and it was left to Winnall to tuck the ball home – the prelude to running down most of the length of the West Stand to milk his moment in front of home supporters.

It looked like being enough, but MacDonald intervened by heading past Westwood, who had earlier made a smart save to deny Adam Armstrong.

Westwood then prevented George Moncur from netting a winner with Fox heading away Hammill’s goalbound curler as Barnsley laid siege at the death.

Offering an Owls take on proceedings, Reach said: “We will take the positives, but at this stage of the season, it is all about wins and we should have got one.

“We should have got a second goal to finish the game off. We will learn lessons from it, these are the kind of games where you need to get that second goal.

“I was over the moon for Sam. When you make a change of clubs and you come back to play them, you are classed as the villain.

“But Sam moved on for football reasons. He wanted a bigger challenge and he’s certainly got that now. When that ball was running away from the ‘keeper, I was not going to give it up because I knew Sam would be lurking there. I am really pleased for him.”