The Reds fight back at a freezing Kassam Stadium to claim what could be a precious point!
Kieffer Moore came off the bench to fire home a dramatic leveller in this clash and preserve Barnsley's unbeaten league run.
The big frontman had been dropped to the substitutes bench by Reds Head Coach, Daniel Stendel with the gaffer preferring an extra midfielder in this game; Kenny Dougall starting against the U's.
It was a very cold evening on Grenoble Road and the physical, direct fashion in which the hosts were playing were giving the Reds problems in the first half, issues the visitors struggled to solve.
But despite that, Cameron McGeehan twice brought good low saves out of home 'keeper Simon Eastwood, one from around six yards out after a fine low cross by Alex Mowatt and the second was a piledriver from range that Eastwood got down well to fist away at his near post.
The hosts went ahead from a corner. They'd earned that set-play when Gavin Whyte tried his luck from 30 yards out only to see Reds skipper Adam Davies fingertip the ball onto the crossbar and over.
From the set-piece, the initial cross wasn't dealt with and when Curtis Nelson headed the ball back in, it was perfect for the onrushing Josh Ruffels to nod home unchallenged at the far post for 1-0.
There were bookings for Nelson and Mamadou Thiam after an altercation by the corner flag, before Dougall joined them. The Aussie cautioned for lashing out in retaliation.
Just before the break, Mowatt's inch-perfect inswinging corner was planted over the bar by the head of Liam Lindsay when it looked certain he'd score from six yards out.
HALF TIME: Oxford 1-0 Barnsley
Moore made his entrance at the break, replacing Dougall, but soon the lead was doubled and the Reds had only themselves to blame.
Another aimless long ball out of defence by the U's saw Lindsay and Jamie Mackie in a race for the loose ball, Davies looked like he would come to deal with it, but Mackie nipped in while the Reds players dallied and he tucked home Oxford's second of the evening.
The Reds stopper had just prior to that made another outstanding save onto the crossbar, with the hosts looking ruthless immediately after the restart.
With a minute, Davies was again called up, parrying a Jordan Graham effort from range behind for a corner before then making a classy one-handed stop from the resultant corner kick.
It was all Oxford at this stage, and Stendel again went to his bench for answers.
On 62 minutes, Jordan Green replaced Cauley Woodrow.
Lindsay was next into the book as he blatantly obstructed a rushing full back on halfway, much to the chagrin of the Oxford bench who were then reprimanded by the referee Mr Johnson and Fourth Official, Trevor Kettle. A coach from the U's was booked and had to leave the dugout.
Barnsley got a lifeline on 69 minutes as great link-up play from Ben Williams and the outstanding Jacob Brown saw the latter work his way into the corner of the box before teeing up Thiam who finished ow under Eastwood for 2-1.
The scorer of the goal was replaced almost instantly, with Mike Bähre on for the last 20 minutes.
Williams was next to see yellow when he was harshly adjudged to have felled his winger by the corner flag.
But on 78 minutes, the equaliser arrived after incessant Reds pressure.
A Lindsay pass out of defence found Brown who burst towards the box before sliding the ball across the six yard box where Moore met it, stabbing the ball into the roof of the net, near post to make it 2-2 and send the Barnsley fans into raptures.
There was a late booking for Mowatt on halfway as the game became more scrappy and Stendel will probably see this as a great point in the end.
FULL TIME: Oxford 2-2 Barnsley
Davies, Cavaré, Pinnock, Lindsay, Williams, mowatt, McGeehan, Dougall (Moore), Thiam (Bähre), Woodrow (Green), Brown.
Unused: Greatorex, Jackson, Pinillos, Adeboyejo.
Att: 5,794 (657 Reds - outstanding!)
