Well, this is it then. After 11 months of football, the curtain will finally fall on the 2019/20 Sky Bet Championship campaign this Wednesday - but hopefully not on the Reds' second tier status - here's our big match preview.
With 93 minutes on the clock at Oakwell last Sunday it looked all but over for Barnsley in their heroic efforts to remain a Sky Bet Championship club.
As Lewis Grabban of Nottingham Forest strode over halfway, nobody could have imagined the scenes just 30 seconds later. In a moment to treasure, the Reds through Callum Styles wrestled back possession and after contributions from Alex Mowatt, Conor Chaplin, Cauley Woodrow and Jacob Brown, late substitute Patrick Schmidt was on hand to fire in a season-saving winner.
Cue the bedlam that followed, as Head Coach, Gerhard Struber and his coaching staff piled onto the field of play in scenes of sheer jubilation. It was only missing our Reds supporters, who've had to watch on from home as the 'Restart Reds' have enjoyed three victories, three draws and just two defeats since the return to play on June 20.
The Reds would be 9th if there was a table for just the fixtures played since COVID-19 struck. Unfortunately, Barnsley head to face a Brentford side on Wednesday night who would sit top of such a table, with seven victories and just one loss post-lockdown.
It couldn't be any tougher a task in this final day crunch clash. Live on Sky Sports for a 7.30pm kick-off, it's the Reds against the Bees in what could potentially be the home side's last ever fixture at Griffin Park. We say potentially, because they'll be back there for a playoff semi final if results go against them on Wednesday.
Because whilst the Reds are fighting one more time for their own divisional future, so are Brentford. They sit just a point behind West Bromwich Albion who hold the second automatic promotion spot at present, with Leeds United already confirmed Champions.
Barnsley's future relies on a victory at Griffin Park and a number of other results going our way on the night. So, it's out of the Reds' hands somewhat, but when we returned in June, with a seven-point deficit, a last-day opportunity to stay up would no doubt have been a welcome prospect.
It's London, too. Where this restart began with a first win in 70 years at Queens Park Rangers. The nation's capital, where the Reds earned their first away win of the season under Gerhard Struber at Millwall before Christmas. West London, where the Reds battered Fulham 3-0 at Craven Cottage in February.
In terms of statistics going into this game, no club has scored as many goals in the Championship as Thomas Frank's Brentford side have managed. They have hit the net on 79 occasions, and only Leeds have conceded (one) fewer goals. The Bees have three players in the top 10 list of goalscorers this season too. With Ollie Watkins grabbing 25 this season so far, Said Benrahma hitting 17 and Bryan Mbeumo bagging himself 15. They're a lot of people's most outstanding team this season, and for good reason.
Hotshot Watkins leads the division in terms of settling games. He's been a matchwinner on nine separate occasions. Only Aleksandr Mitrovic at Fulham comes close. At the back, no goalkeeper has kept more clean sheets than Bees stopper David Raya (16). Brentford are top of the fair play table too, with just 49 yellow cards issued to their players this season. For comparison, the Reds have picked up 91 bookings throughout 2019/20.
Wednesday night sees the youngest and second youngest sides squaring off against each other. Both sides enjoy having hold of the football, with Brentford and Barnsley in the division's top six for average time in possession. It's safe to say as well, that the Reds need to score first, as all of their 11 wins this season have come from scoring the opening goal.
One of the standout defenders in the Championship this season has been Ethan Pinnock. Player of the Year at Oakwell last season, the central defender moved to Griffin Park last summer and after initially having to wait for his Bees opportunity, Pinnock is now a shoe-in alongside former Leeds man Pontus Jansson.
In the reverse fixture earlier this season, Brentford ran out 3-1 winners with that man Watkins grabbing himself a hat-trick despite Cauley Woodrow giving the Reds the lead with a 25-yard curler.
It's not a kind fixture for Barnsley in terms of historical meetings. The Bees hold 24 wins to the Reds' 13, although much of those defeats came between 1934 and 1964 where the Reds won just one of 24 meetings!
It's 14 years since our last defeat at Griffin Park, and indeed we've not conceded a goal there on our last two visits; a 0-0 draw in December of 2017 and a 2-0 success in October of 2016 when Adam Armstrong and Sam Winnall goals saw us to three points.
With the game being televised by Sky Sports, there will be no one-off match passes available to purchase for the game, but our Season Ticket holders using their free promo codes can still enjoy the iFollow Barnsley coverage with a Sky Sports broadcast and commentary from our own Matt Bailey and Wayne Goodison.
