Analysis of Barnsley's 2-1 win at Bolton Wanderers on Saturday. The Reds trailed on 80 minutes but Davis Keillor-Dunn and Adam Phillips secured the three points.

FIRST LEAGUE WIN OVER BOLTON IN MORE THAN A QUARTER OF A CENTURY

The previous Barnsley win over Bolton in a league match was before any of the outfield players who started for them in this Boxing Day fixture were born.

Since a 2-1 Premier League win over the Trotters in August 1997, when Eric Tinkler and Georgi Hristov netted, the Reds had not won in 17 attempts in the first, second third tiers.

The wait looked set to continue as they were 1-0 down on 80 minutes but they scored two late goals to secure an impressive and deserved win. It was their first in the league at that stadium.

They gained some revenge for the play-off semi-final aggregate loss at the same ground in May.

The Reds have been generally struggling since drawing 2-2 at home to Bolton in the last league meeting in March, dropping down from a top two chase into sixth last season while they arrived in Lancashire in ninth. But they overtook their hosts and will hope this win, which took them up to seventh and a point off the top six, will be a turning point in the other direction.

EXCELLENT RESPONSE TO ORIENT HUMBLING

The Reds were unrecognisable from the side that was humbled 4-0 at home to Leyton Orient five days earlier.

The first half was open and frenetic with both defences struggling then Barrnsley dominated from the start of the second half.

The Reds had conceded a poor goal and missed a series of good chances, but showed real character to keep going and score twice late on. It was a second straight away game in which they trailed 1-0 at half-time but won 2-1.

Bolton - who like the Reds are trying to break back into the top six after two failed play-off campaigns - were very disappointing, especially in the second half.

There were some heart-warming scenes at the end when the Barnsley players and staff celebrated with the roughly 1,200 away fans.

CLEVER SET PIECE WINNER

The winning goal saw Kelechi Nwakali shape as if to cross a free-kick into the box before playing a pass down the right side of the area to Corey O’Keeffe who pulled it back to Adam Phillips to smash home the winner.

Impressive substitute Nwakali, who had received some instructions from the bench just before taking the free-kick, ran to celebrate with coach Conor Hourihane who works on the attacking set pieces. O'Keeffe had been set to take the free-kick but was taken off it at the last second.

The Irishman retired from playing last week, having barely featured, but is clearly adding value on the training pitch.

It was a tenth set piece goal of the season, compared to 13 in all of last season.

The Reds were better on defensive set pieces, which were their undoing on Saturday. Ben Killip was struggling with them early on, just about clawing a series of Randell Williams corners away. But, in the second half, towering centre-back Donovan Pines stood next to his goalkeeper and headed set pieces away.

PHILLIPS SHOWS HIS QUALITY

Phillips assisted the equaliser then scored the winner, taking him onto seven goals for the season from midfield.

He cupped his ears to the away end then pointed to his name on his shirt, which seemed to be a response to the criticism aimed at him by some fans recently during a spell of no goals in open play in 13 games. After the match, he looked very keen to clap the Barnsley fans and celebrate with them.

It hadn’t been a great last few weeks for Phillips, after starting the season with a glut of goals. He had missed a penalty in the FA Cup shoot-out loss against Bristol Rovers, been sent off against Birmingham so missed a game through suspension then another on Saturday due to complications after dental treatment.

That run could easily have continued at Bolton when his clearance in his own box was charged down and fell perfectly for Aaron Collins who somehow missed the ball a few yards out on 18 minutes.

But Phillips grew into the game, playing some fine passes to open Bolton up.

His quality at this level should never be doubted. Nor should that of former Bolton youngster Luca Connell who also returned after illness and contributed to a much-improved team performance but could only last an hour.

Phillips remained as Barnsley’s joint top-scorer after Davis Keillor-Dunn had briefly gone ahead when he equalised. Keillor-Dunn is quietly working his way towards a very healthy goal tally this season. His goal came after Stephen Humphrys cleverly touched a Mael de Gevigney pass to Phillips who switched the ball from the right wing to Keillor-Dunn on the left of the box who put his shot through the legs of ex-Red Gethin Jones.

There were other unsung heroes such as Conor McCarthy who was solid defensively and contributed on the attack, especially early on.

HARD TO ANALYSE WILDLY INCONSISTENT REDS

How can you analyse a team that can perform so badly on Saturday but so well on Thursday?

It is true that the Reds were without key players against Orient and struggled in uniquely windy conditions, but they were also extremely disjointed and flat.

They needed a reaction and got one at Bolton. But they are currently extremely inconsistent - not a helpful quality for a promotion-chaser.

They need to follow this up with a win at struggling Peterborough on Sunday.

Nwakali will be pushing for a start in midfield but Jon Russell, other than a bad miss at 1-0 down, had a decent game and caused a lot of problems for the home defence.

The Reds continued their excellent away form with a seventh victory on the road this season – a stark contrast with two just wins at Oakwell. They have 22 points on their travels, double their Oakwell tally.

There are still question marks over the goalkeeper - Killip had another poor match - and if they have enough firepower up front. But they kept themselves in top six contention ahead of a January in which they hope to get key players back from injury and make some signings.