Wembley next target for the rampant Reds

Sam Winnall’s strike secured victory and showed why the Oakwell club were right to reject a £300,000 transfer bid from Leeds United last week.

Swindon failed to register a shot on target in the first half as Barnsley attacked and kept goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux at full stretch.

Striker Jon Obika forced a save from Adam Davies after the break and the match looked to be heading for a scoreless draw until the Tykes pounced on 88 minutes.

It was the in-form Winnall who broke the deadlock, thrashing home Josh Scowen’s cross for his ninth goal in six league games to hand new Swindon manager Luke Williams his first defeat and give the Reds victory ahead of Thursday’s JP Trophy northern final second leg at Fleetwood, where the winners will earn a place at Wembley.

Lee Johnson’s side now stand just five points off the top six and he said: “I think when you come to Swindon, you have to set out a plan. You’ve got to make sure they can’t break the lines and get in between you and they rarely did.

“At half-time, we came in and we’d had 10 shots to their one. Really we should have taken one of them. In the second half, we did get pegged back a bit for 15 or 20 minutes but still looked like we could break on them and score.”

Swindon Town: Vigouroux, Branco, Nathan Thompson, Turnbull, Barry (Brophy 46), Kasim, Doughty, Robert (Balmy 77), Ormonde-Ottewill, Obika, Ajose (Michael Smith 77). Unused substitutes: Hylton, Belford, Rodgers, Iandolo.

Barnsley: Davies, Bree, Long, Mawson, George Williams, Brownhill, Hourihane, Watkins, Isgrove, Fletcher (Scowen 68), Winnall. Unused substitutes: McCourt, Khan, Roberts, Townsend, Templeton, Harry White.

Referee: T Robinson (West Sussex).

Man of the match: Sam Winnall.