Some statistical points related to Barnsley FC as they gather momentum towards another promotion challenge.
REDS ARE SET PIECE KINGS
Set pieces account for 35 per cent of Barnsley’s league goals this season. That is up from 15 per cent last season.
Only Blackpool have created more chances from corners this season while the Reds’ two main takers, right-footed Corey O’Keeffe and left-footed Luca Connell, are both in the top eight in the division for creating chances from corners.
They already have eight set piece goals this campaign compared to 13 last season under Neill Collins, who delegated set piece duties to goalkeeper coach Tom Fawdry.
This season, that role has been taken up by first team coach Conor Hourihane whose absence in midfield is being offset by his work on the training ground on corners and set pieces. Connell and O’Keeffe were both at the club last season but weren’t taking consistently dangerous set pieces like they are now, although it does help that they have the huge targets of Marc Roberts and a rejuvenated Jon Russell to aim for.
Set piece prowess gives Barnsley an edge in dull tight games, of which there are many at this level.
COUNTRY'S TOP TRAVELLERS OVER 3 SEASONS
No team in the top four divisions in England has more away goals or wins across the last three seasons than Barnsley.
After breaking a club record for away points last season, they are currently on course to smash it this campaign after winning five of their first seven on the road.
It is remarkable that in all seven of those games, they have not conceded before half-time – an extremely solid platform to build off.
Three of those wins were against sides currently in the relegation zone, and they visit another tomorrow in Cambridge.
But every win on the road is an achievement while the bottom four have not been as easily beaten by everyone – Huddersfield drew at Crawley on Saturday.
After Cambridge, the away matches get significantly more difficult in theory.
The Reds are due to visit Wrexham – where they have never won in 16 attempts – then make the long trip to Exeter before their games between Christmas and New Year are at the other clubs who lost in the play-offs for the last two seasons, Bolton and Peterborough. All four of those sides are currently in the top half of the table.
MAEL 51-GAME RUN BEST FOR DECADES
Barnsley’s 1-0 loss at home to Blackpool on September 30 last year is not particularly memorable or special from a Reds perspective. But it was the first game in a remarkable run for Mael de Devigney.
Since then, the French centre-back has played every minute of the Reds’ last 51 league games. That puts him level with Michal Helik who did the same between December 2020 and 2021.
No other outfield player has played as many consecutive league games for the club without missing a minute since Nicky Eaden – now a youth coach at the club – with 84 in the mid 1990s.
JALO HAS DOUBLED NICHE CLUB RECORD
Fabio Jalo has doubled the club record for the most league substitute appearances before making his first league start for Barnsley. The Portugal youth international, who turns 19 on Monday, has come off the bench 28 times in the league across the last three seasons but has never started.
That smashes the previous record of 14 set by Callum Styles when also a teenager and mainly used as a late substitute by Daniel Stendel during the last promotion season. Jalo had some decent games off the bench earlier in the season but has stayed on it since he was one of several starters not to impress in the EFL Trophy loss to Doncaster earlier in the month.
