During an afternoon in which other results went their way, Derby failed to capitalise, as they fell to a 2-1 defeat in a promotion six-pointer.
Following their late victory over Stevenage last weekend, the Rams travelled to Oakwell, looking for their first win there since 2017, almost a year to the day of their 4-1 loss in South Yorkshire last season.
Though Derby had been boosted by the signing of Dwight Gayle, which was confirmed on Monday, the former Newcastle man would have to wait to make an impact from the bench. Paul Warne opted to start without a recognised striker again, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and last weekend’s goal scorer Louie Sibley starting up front. In the other of the two changes to the starting XI, captain Conor Hourihane was preferred to Ryan Nyambe, Kane Wilson returning to his usual right wing back role.
The game began with a chance apiece in the opening two minutes. Eiran Cashin flicked the ball on for Max Bird from the edge of the Derby box. Bird headed the ball towards goal, but his effort lacked power, and was easily saved. Barnsley quickly went up the other end and League One’s joint-top scorer Devante Cole got his head on a whipped cross, but Wildsmith held it.
Barnsley then took control of the encounter, playing fast-paced football. Space for Derby looked as though come behind Barnsley’s high line. Therefore, just as last week, Derby needed to get higher and wider, to use Mendez-Laing’s pace, but slow down the overall tempo of the match. The decision to move Max Bird into a more advanced position, almost playing in a front three with Sibley and Mendez-Laing, helped Derby, but it's still fair to say that their opener came against the run of play.
In the 17th minute, Bird drove into the box, seizing on a mistake from Barnsley. He moves it back to Hourihane, whose shot deflected out for Derby’ s first corner. The corner came in to Bradley at the back post, who flicked it across goal for Cashin, his header headed off the line by Nicky Cadden, resulting in another set piece. The second corner was whipped to the back post once more, where an unmarked Sonny Bradley got his head on it to score his first Derby goal, delighting the travelling flock of 5000.
Barnsley would equalise in the 33rd minute through Adam Phillips. The hosts having advanced down the left, Nicky Cadden put a cross into the box. Eiran Cashin headed the ball away, but into a dangerous area on the edge of the box. Unfortunately for him, it was there that Phillips was waiting in space, the ‘D’ just to his left, and he hit a beautiful volley into the bottom left corner.
Neil Collins’ side were in the ascendency until the break, which came after a large amount of stoppage time due to Louie Sibley and Callum Elder having gone down for lengthy periods earlier and had the first chance of the second half when Nicky Cadden struck the ball straight at Joe Wildsmith.
Eiran Cashin broke down the left in the 56th minute and flashed a great ball in for Mendez-Laing. The Guatemalan International made a mess of it and was offside regardless, but getting forward again was positive for Derby, who needed to do a bit more ging forward, having been poor on the ball for much of the game, and invited too much pressure since taking the lead.
The introduction of Tom Barkhuizen and debutant Dwight Gayle just after the hour mark saw Derby look a lot better, benefitting from having a natural striker as a focal point as the game opened up. But the Rams would get a taste of their own medicine, as Barnsley scored from a corner, against the run of play. The ball whipped to the near post by Cadden, where Phillips headed in for his second consecutive brace at Oakwell.
Paul Warne made a change in the 76th minute, Ryan Nyambe coming on for Callum Elder as the Rams switched to a back four, Curtis Nelson surprisingly staying on after a clash of heads with Mael Durand de Gevigney.
As the game entered nine minutes of stoppage time, Derby were still pushing for an equaliser, and would cram a few chances into that time.
In the 92nd minute, Mendez-Laing would look to curl the ball around Roberts, who saved it well, as he did Sonny Bradley’s downwards header at the far post soon after. In the 95th minute, it looked as though Dwight Gayle would have the chance to make himself a hero, stretching to meet Bird’s ball. But he put it wide and was in an offside position. And with the Rams in the Last Chance Saloon, even goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith came up for a last minute corner, which Barnsley would clear to see the three points over the line.
With Portsmouth drawing, and Bolton losing at Blackpool, this was a missed opportunity for the Rams. Barnsley are now only three points behind them too. The Tykes face Bolton in what is both sides’ game in hand on 5th March.
That being said, it is by no means a disaster. This is only Derby's fourth league loss in as many months, and another of those was against a promotion hopeful in Peterborough on New Year’s Day.
Paul Warne said after the match that in the first half, “we [Derby] didn't have any natural rhythm to our game,” but “started to look better second half.” Though he said that “everyone wasn’t on song today,” Warne felt that “a draw would have possibly been a fair result.”
Whilst that is probably the case, and Derby may have felt hard done by to go home empty handed, they didn’t have enough gilt-edged chances (something Warne acknowledged) or take enough of the ones they did have. With Charlton and Port Vale both visiting Pride Park in the next week, hopefully Dwight Gayle can soon build up the fitness to start. This would allow Mendez-Laing to move back out wide, where he has been so effective this season, which could help on both fronts.
Barnsley (3-1-4-2): Roberts (GK), de Gevigney, Pines, Earl, Connell, Williams (C), Phillips (87’ Cotter), Kane, Cadden (90’ O’Keefe), McAtee (58’ Cosgrove), Cole (90’ Grant).
Derby (3-4-2-1): Wildsmith (GK), Nelson, Bradley, Cashin, Wilson, Adams (89’ Smith), Hourihane (C) (61’ Barkhuizen), Elder (76’ Nyambe), Bird, Sibley (61’ Gayle), Mendez-Laing.
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