It's a festive three points for the Reds with a comfortable home victory over Peterborough!
An Alex Mowatt first half strike and a Cauley Woodrow wonder-goal after the break saw Barnsley to a priceless home win, completing a league double over playoff rivals Peterborough in the process as the Reds celebrated Boxing Day in the perfect fashion in front of over 12,000 home supporters.
Reds Head Coach, Daniel Stendel made two changes to the starting XI that saw off Blackpool at the weekend, with Mike Bähre and Kenny Dougall taking the places of the illness stricken Kieffer Moore and Senegalese forward Mamadou Thiam.
Both sides took a while to find their feet in the opening stages; long-distance, speculative efforts from Marcus Maddison for the visitors and then Bähre for the Reds were about all we had to see in the first 15 minutes, as fussy refereeing and the stop/start nature of the proceedings killed the flow.
German midfielder Bähre then blazed over well placed inside the box after terrific play from Dimitri Cavaré down the right flank.
But the Reds' dominance shone through and on 24 minutes they struck the first blow. It was another flowing move from the back which eventually saw Brad Potts feed Cavaré who was bombing on incessantly down the right wing, and the right-back's low ball in from the byline was slid home by Mowatt at the front post to give Barnsley a deserved lead.
Posh striker Matt Godden nodded wide from around eight yards out and central after a terrific Maddison cross, just before the break. It was as close as they'd come, but it had been Barnsley in the ascendance in the opening 45 minutes at Oakwell.
HALF TIME: Barnsley 1-0 Peterborough
It was an even better display in the second half. Barnsley were relentless and probably should have won the game by a greater margin.
Both Potts and Cavaré had driving runs towards the box before shooting just wide, Potts then released McGeehan after another driving run, with the latter narrowly firing his shot inches wide from just inside the box.
But the pressure paid off on 49 minutes..
The goal stemmed from a Posh attack down the right. Maddison was brilliantly halted by the impressive Dani Pinillos who played Bähre down the right. The on-loan man found Woodrow on the touchline who proceeded to cut inside onto his right boot and from around 25 yards he curled home a beautiful effort that gave the Posh 'keeper no chance as it nestled in the top right hand corner.
Woodrow was denied a second on the hour when the visiting 'keeper O'Malley denied Barnsley's red-hot frontman.
Peterborough had a great opportunity to reduce the arrears soon after when Godden again was faced by Adam Davies from around 10 yards out, but the Reds' skipper stood up tall, eventually deflecting the shot behind with a leg.
There were substitute appearances for Jacob Brown, Victor Adeboyejo and Thiam as Barnsley continued to dominate affairs.
Dougall was cautioned for a late tackle in midfield, but chances for the visitors were limited and it proved a Merry Christmas indeed for Stendel's side who leapfrogged Peterborough in the Sky Bet League One table.
FULL TIME: Barnsley 2-0 Peterborough
Davies, Cavaré, Pinnock, Lindsay, Pinillos, Potts (Brown), Mowatt, McGeehan, Dougall (Adeboyejo), Bähre (Thiam), Woodrow.
Subs: Greatorex, Jackson, Moncur, Hedges.