Barnsley vs Hull City. Sky Bet Championship.
Oakwell StadiumAttendance13,624.
Saturday 21 October 2017 18:40, UK
Fraizer Campbell scored a late goal as Hull beat Barnsley 1-0 in the Sky Bet Championship to secure a first away league victory since August 2016.
The result at Oakwell pushes the Tigers up to 14th in the table and leaves Barnsley in 19th, hovering dangerously close to the relegation zone. Substitute Campbell broke the deadlock with a goal from a corner in the 77th minute, ending the visitors' miserable run of away form which had seen them pick up just six points from a possible 72.
After a slow start, Barnsley registered the first attempts at goal, with winger Harvey Barnes and left-back Zeki Fryers firing shots high and wide.
Adam Hammill nearly opened the scoring in style when he tried an audacious flick at goal from a Barnes cross, but the visitors' defence was alert and kept the danger out.
Despite their poor defensive record, Hull were resolute at the back in the first half, restricting Barnsley to shots from distance. Tom Bradshaw saw a shot fly over the bar before he headed Hammill's chip into the box just wide of Allan McGregor's goal.
Cameron McGeehan had a great opportunity from the edge of the box as Michael Hector headed away Hammill's cross and it sat perfectly for the Northern Ireland youth international to strike, but his effort flew inches over the bar.
Hull did threaten occasionally but with no end product. Top goal-scorer Jarrod Bowen created himself a chance when he weaved his way through Barnsley's defence but he could not find a final ball and rolled a comfortable cross into Adam Davies' arms.
In the 54th minute there was a first shot on target when McGeehan played a ball into the middle, with Hammill striking straight at Hull keeper McGregor and causing a scramble in the box which sparked the match into life. Ike Ugbo was unlucky to see his curling effort miss the target.
The visitors replied with a succession of corners but still could not trouble Davies, forcing manager Leonid Slutsky to haul off duo Kamil Grosicki and Nouha Dicko, who had been largely ineffective. And it was one of their replacements, Campbell, who made all the difference. Barnsley failed to deal with Seb Larsson's corner and Campbell was on hand to slot home the winner.
Bradshaw nearly clawed the Tykes back into the tie but McGregor was in fine form to deny the Welshman. The Scotland international saved his side again late on, pushing away Ryan Hedges' shot at goal.
Campbell was not satisfied with the one goal either, and nearly doubled his tally in the final minute. Davies, however, got down to push his shot away for a corner.
Paul Heckingbottom: "I said to the players that I'm upset for them and angry with them. Upset that they've not got the result - I can't say deserved, as we didn't take our chances. We didn't capitalise when we were dominant.
"And I'm angry because their two attempts on goal - or two on target should I say - both came from set-plays, from corners. When you're not scoring or not capitalising at one end then you've got to be faultless in every other bit, so we weren't today."
Leonid Slutsky: "To be honest, today we didn't play the best match. But for us, it was very important to win because it was like a demon, one year without an away win. oday was the first Yorkshire derby for me, with a lot of supporters and I'm very thankful for our supporters. It was unbelievable support, like always.
"I think today maybe we did not deserve the win but I think we deserved the win for all of the time, all away matches. Today, luck was on our side and I am very happy. Campbell is the first forward now. He's very aggressive, he's a very strong individual and a leader of the team, but he needs more than three weeks. It's difficult for him to play the whole 90 minutes. Before the match, we understood he could only play a maximum of half an hour."
