Our U21s fell to a late 2-1 defeat against Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday afternoon.
Aiden Marsh was on target for the young Reds, however, a double for Wednesday’s Bruno Fernandes including a last-minute winner on the counter was what settled it on the Showcase Pitch.
The loss is only our second in six matches in the Professional Development League, with the other also coming against the Owls last month.
It was the Reds who looked the brightest in the opening 10 minutes as Aaron Atkinson almost opened the scoring with a first-time right-footed effort which although powerful, was agonisingly fired an inch or two over the crossbar.
Wednesday took the lead shortly after when a mistake at the back gave the visitors a two-on-one scenario, after which the ball was squared across the box leaving Fernandes the simplest of tasks of tapping home into an empty net from three yards out.
Rogan Ravenhill then came to the rescue to prevent the Owls from doubling their tally as he got down quickly to stop a powerful point-blank strike from Fernandes.
Tom Harban may have felt slightly hard done by at the end of the first half, as the referee waved away two Reds penalty appeals within five minutes. The first came as Atkinson fell to the ground after a scuffle in the box between him and a Wednesday defender, the second resulted furious protests on the pitch after a cross from the right side of the goal appeared to strike an opponent’s hand inside the box.
HALF-TIME: Barnsley 0-1 Sheffield Wednesday
The second half was fiercely contested, with both sides having fantastic opportunities to score. Marsh almost equalised within 10 minutes of the restart after Atkinson played him through in the box, but his attempt sailed narrowly wide of the goal.
Then, Wednesday goalkeeper Jack Hall miscalculated a clearance when sprinting outside of his box, giving Atkinson a glorious opportunity of his own from the edge of the area, but his chip floated beyond the upright.
The game quickly became a difficult affair for both teams as down the other end, Ravenhill was forced to react quickly to save two strong efforts from Luke Cook and Gui Siqueria.
Another goal seemed inevitable, and it was the Reds who eventually struck via Marsh, who picked the ball up just inside the visiting half, and trickily ran towards goal before firing off the post and into the net from long range.
The goal left our U21s wanting more, and they pressed forward in search of three points in the closing stages. Wednesday nearly landed themselves in further trouble after a Ziggy Kozluk cross was sliced across goal by an Owls defender, and had to be cleared away a second time for yet another corner.
However, said corner resulted in a Wednesday counter-attack, and after they played a long ball to an unmarked Fernandes on the half-way line, the Portuguese midfielder ran towards goal as the Barnsley back-line desperately attempted to catch up to him, before lashing into the net with his right foot to turn what was a mostly positive performance by the young Reds into an agonising defeat.
The loss means we remain in fifth place, with seven points now separating us and second place Sheffield United, who picked up a point after a 0-0 draw with Fleetwood Town.
FULL-TIME: Barnsley 1-2 Sheffield Wednesday
REDS XI: Ravenhill (GK), Kozluk, Pickard (Benjamin, 67), James, Joof, Hickingbottom, Nejman (Yoganathan, 54), Makiessi (Bland, 54), Watters (Dyer, 54), Atkinson, Marsh.
Not Used: Carter-Rogers (GK).
Sheff. Wednesday XI: Hall (GK), Siqueria, Flannery, Adetoro, Otegnayo, Brennan, Onukwuli, Shipston, Cook, Fernandes, Reed.
Subs: Phuti, Phillips, Thornton, Rodrigues, Johnson.
