Bolton Wanderers ensured they came home with a point from Yorkshire after a 1-1 draw at Oakwell against Barnsley.
After a goalless first half, the dynamic of the game changed drastically in the early stages of the second when David McGoldrick gave the hosts the lead, before Vimal Yoganathan was sent off for a second bookable offence.
Barnsley held on until the latter stages of the game, and thought they may have done enough to claim the points but John McAtee came back to haunt his former side with a goal in the final five minutes of normal time.
The first effort of the afternoon came from Barnsley’s Davis Keillor-Dunn on six minutes. Joel Randall was deemed to have fouled his man 25-yards-out from goal. Keillor-Dunn looked to curl one right-footed into the near corner but Teddy Sharman-Lowe comfortably palmed it away.
Just before the ten minute mark Wanderers came close to taking an early lead. An inch perfect switch of play from Mason Burstow found Josh Dacres-Cogley on the right flank. He slipped in Amario Cozier-Duberry but the winger lost possession with the loose ball falling to Xavier Simons whose powerful strike just went over the bar.
Three minutes later the Whites were awarded a free-kick over 30-yards-out. Quick thinking from Josh Sheehan saw the Welsh international try and catch the goalkeeper out of his goal but there was too much on the effort as it went over Murphy Cooper’s bar.
Simons again was in the thick of the action on 20 minutes. The summer signing did well to intercept the ball in the Barnsley half before Cozier-Duberry had a shot straight down the throat of Cooper.
Eight minutes later Barnsley had a fantastic opportunity to take the lead but wasted it. Nathaniel Ogbeta put a well driven ball into the box from the left towards the back post where David McGoldrick was waiting but somehow from within the six-yard-box the veteran striker put the ball wide as the first half ended level.
But just two minutes after the break Barnsley’s McGoldrick put them 1-0 up. The forward beat the offside trap and from a tight angle squeezed the ball past Sharman-Lowe from inside the box.
Wanderers almost equalised immediately through Captain Eoin Toal. He rose highest in the area and produced a header that left keeper Cooper stranded. But the ball struck the post and bounced back into play before it was cleared away.
The drama continued in the first ten minutes of the second half. After being booked in the first half after an off-the-ball incident with Mason Burstow, Barnsley’s Vimal Yoganathan was show a second yellow card after a sliding challenge in the centre circle on Dacres-Cogley.
Ibrahim Cissoko entered the pitch for his Wanderers debut. Shortly after coming on he whipped in a ball from the left which was cleared away but only as far as fellow substitute Aaron Morley whose volley from outside the area was too high.
Wanderers kept piling on the pressure. On the 76th minute Cissoko put another ball into the area which Conway won with his header but with no real pace on the effort it was easy for Cooper to claim. A minute later Mason Burstow received the ball in the area but his strike went over the bar.
In the final ten minutes Wanderers came so close to drawing level. Cissoko’s cross from the left was met at the back of the box by Cozier-Dubery but his volley was cleared off the line by Jack Sheperd.
But the deserving equaliser came on the 86th minute through substitute John McAtee. The initial ball was headed down by Toal, following the corner, and touched in from close range by McAtee.
Wanderers had chances at the death to win it but the game ended level with the Whites having to settle for a point.
Barnsley | Cooper, Bland (74’ Watson), Sheperd, Earl, Obgeta, Connell, Yoganathan, Vickers (87’ Cleary), Phillips (87’Farrugia), Keillor-Dunn, McGoldrick (61’ Kelly)
Unused subs | Flavell, Russell, Barratt
Wanderers | Sharman-Lowe, Dacres-Cogley (Osei-Tutu), Toal, Johnson, Conway (80’ Erhahon, Sheehan, Simons (63’ Morley), Cozier-Duberry, Randall (63’Cissoko), Gale (73’ McAtee), Burstow
Unused subs | Miller, Forino