Barnsley bounced back from their 3-0 defeat to Cardiff City with a comprehensive 2-0 victory over Derby County at Pride Park

The pressure is mounting on Rams manager, Phillip Cocu, after another defeat leaves them bottom of the Championship table. Cocu is currently self isolating after the club's chief executive tested positive for Covid-19. It is now seven games without a win for Derby.

Story of the match

Barnsley climbed to to 15th position in the table with a solid win away at Derby County.

Barnsley started the match lively and almost opened the scoring after four minutes. Callum Styles skipped past two defenders before playing in Cauley Woodrow, who flicked the ball on to Dominik Frieser, but his volley was well saved by Derby goalkeeper, David Marshall.

Derby settled after a lacklustre start and began to enjoy sustained periods of possession, without offering much in terms of chances. However, in the 21st minute, they found themselves with two chances in quick succession to take the lead, but Barnsley goalkeeper Jack Walton made a terrific double save from two Tom Lawrence shots.

After half an hour, Barnsley opened the deadlock, in comedic fashion. Marshall received the ball in his own area with no pressure on him and the Scotland international played the ball across his own area towards Krystian Bielik, but the pass was intercepted by Conor Chaplin who side footed it home from 20 yards out. To make matters worse for Marshall, he managed to get back to his goal in time to prevent the goal, but preemptively slid, as the ball went in just a yard behind him.

Right before half time, the Tykes almost doubled their lead, but Alex Mowatt's strike from Woodrow's set up went agonisingly wide.

In the second half, there wasn't much in the way of clear cut chances and Barnsley's best chance fell to Chaplin but his free kick was well off target. Derby had a free kick of their own on the hour mark, but Martyn Waghorn's left footed effort sailed wide of the post.

Derby found momentum and dominated possession as they searched for an equaliser. Lee Buchanan fired his shot into the side netting when played in just inside the box and Waghorn set up substitute Louie Sibley but his long range effort was fired straight at Walton in the Barnsley goal.

Barnsley dug deep to maintain their lead and battled for everything Derby came at them with, before sealing the three points with an 86th minute second. Substitute Victor Adeboyejo curled his effort brlliantly past Marshall from 25 yards to leave Derby rooted to the bottom of the league.

Takeaways

Time is surely up for Derby County manager Phillip Cocu now. While he was self isolating for this defeat, with Liam Rosenior taking temporary charge in his absence, his side have been leapfrogged by Sheffield Wednesday, who began the season with -6 points, to leave the Rams firmly at the bottom of the table.

They're now gone seven games without a win and with the players Cocu has at his disposal, it's hard to find sympathy for the Dutchman. On paper, they should be at the other end of the table, but the players are not reacting to the style and instructions that Cocu has set them up with. It's a far cry from the Derby County of recent years.

However, it would be harsh not to give Barnsley credit for the win. It was a professional display from Valerien Ismael's men and they fully deserved the three points.

Line ups

Derby County: Marshall, Bielik, Davies, Clarke, Byrne, Knight, Shinnie, Buchanan, Waghorn, Rooney, Lawrence

Subs: Wisdom, Jozwiak, Bird, Kazim-Richards, Sibley, Roos, Holmes

Barnsley: Walton, Sollbauer, Anderson, Helik, Brittain, Mowatt, James, Styles, Chaplin, Frieser, Woodrow

Subs: Kane, Thomas, Odour, Simoes, Halme, Adeboyejo, Collins

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