A battling Barnsley performance saw them earn a point on the road against Leyton Orient this afternoon.
A thunderous second half Herbie Kane strike helped claim a share of the spoils at Brisbane Road, levelling a game they'd fallen behind in after a hotly-disputed Joe Pigott penalty kick.
It was a largely uneventful opening 45 minutes until the big talking point that swung the game in Orient's favour.
As ever, the Reds were dominating possession but struggling to do anything with it, certainly in terms of penetration. An early Maël de Gevigney header dropped over the crossbar from a Herbie Kane free-kick, whilst Pigott was similarly off-target himself at the other end.
15 minutes in, and after some confusion in the hosts' box following a Reds corner kick, the ball rolled into the path of Nicky Cadden whose placed effort was heading into the far corner until O's 'keeper Sol Brynn clawed the ball behind.
Then came the controversial penalty call. About 26 minutes into the contest, Jamie McCart looked to have blocked an Orient shot superbly inside the box, only for referee, Peter Wright to signal a spot kick, indicating use of an arm by the Scottish defender. It looked very harsh.
But up stepped Pigott from 12 yards who finished low into the bottom right-hand corner of Ben Killip's goal, who had guessed the right way but couldn't quite get to the strike.
In response, Barnsley again enjoyed plenty of the ball but were unable to find any space against a home side who were now defending with everyone back.
HALF TIME: Leyton Orient 1-0 Barnsley
Reds Head Coach, Neill Collins introduced Barry Cotter for Corey O'Keeffe as we kicked off the second half, and Barnsley nearly equalised immediately. A great attack at speed saw Max Watters in down the right, but his pull-back into the box was a little hard and Josh Benson failed to control it, with the ball instead ricocheting off him and agonisingly wide of goal, with Brynn rooted.
On his league debut for the Reds, Killip showed his quality in the 55th minute as he wonderfully diverted an Ethan Galbraith strike from 20 yards over the bar to keep the score at 1-0.
More subs arrived in the shape of John McAtee and Adam Phillips, and with 69 minutes played, Barnsley found a leveller their play had warranted.
Some fine work from Cotter on the right as he swung in a low ball to the edge of the O's box where Kane played a one-two with Cole before finding the top corner, 20 yards out, with the aid of the woodwork. A cracking effort and a deserved goal for Collins' men.
Shortly after, and with their tails up, Barnsley could have gone ahead as again Kane dug out a shot from the edge of the box but on this occasion, a deflection saw the ball trickle just wide.
Two final changes were made as Sam Cosgrove and Owen Dodgson entered the fray, and they both combined early on to create an opportunity but Sam couldn't quite turn home an Owen cross from the left.
Referee, Wright got in on the action again in the final stages. First, by blocking a goalbound strike from an Orient midfielder and later by issuing two yellow cards in quick succession to Cosgrove, leaving the Reds down to 10 men for the majority of stoppage time.
The striker looked to have won a header on halfway for booking one. The referee awarded a free-kick, then booked Sam for dissent. Just 90 seconds later, Cosgrove was pulled back near the touchline then played the ball forward in a second challenge. The referee instantly pulled out the yellow card again, followed by a red.
Despite that late drama, Orient didn't create anything with that extra man for six minutes and Barnsley extended their unbeaten away record this season to seven matches (two draws and five victories).
FULL TIME: Leyton Orient 1-1 Barnsley
Killip, O'Keeffe (Cotter), Williams, de Gevigney, McCart, Cadden (Dodgson), Kane, Russell, J.Benson (Phillips), Watters (McAtee), Cole (Cosgrove).
Unused: Flavell, Shepherd.
