Barnsley survive fightback

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Burnley produced a late rally but ultimately failed to end their 76-year wait for a win at Oakwell last night as hosts Barnsley held on for victory.

A first-half strike from Jon Macken and goals shortly after the break from Simon Whaley and substitute Diego Leon put the Tykes in control, but Burnley then fought back with two Martin Paterson goals to keep themselves in the hunt until the end.

The Barnsley manager, Simon Davey, described the game as a "Jeckyll and Hyde" performance. "We had a spell in the second half where we lost our concentration and gave a goal away and then we went on the back foot," he said.

The hosts took the lead in the 17th minute when Robert Kozluk produced an inch-perfect ball over the top of a static defence. The Clarets' back line could do nothing but watch as Macken raced towards goal and smashed home at the near post.

Whaley put Barnsley two up in the 48th minute – in dubious circumstances. Jamal Campbell-Ryce picked the ball up, ran at the Burnley defence and his goal-bound shot came off Whaley to fly in.

Despite the protests of Burnley players, who claimed Whaley was offside, the referee ruled the goal should stand. And it was 3-0 in the 50th minute when the ball fell kindly for Leon following a corner. He smashed the ball goalwards and a deflection again left Brian Jensen wrong-footed in the Burnley goal.

Paterson started the comeback in the 68th minute when he slotted the ball under Heinz Muller. And the comeback was on 17 minutes from time when Paterson rounded off a mazy run with a neat finish.

But Muller pushed a McCann thunderbolt over his crossbar and also denied Chris Eagles as the home side hung on for the win.

Barnsley: Muller, Hassell, Foster, Guedes, Kozluk, Whaley, Campbell-Ryce, Colace, Devaney (Leon, 10) (Van Homoet, 84), Odejayi (Coulson, 84), Macken. Substitutes not used: Mostto, Rigters.

Burnley: Jensen, Duff ( Rodriguez, 87), Carlisle, Caldwell, Jordan, Alexander, McCann, Gudjonsson (McDonald, 54), Eagles, Akinbiyi (Paterson, 54), Blake. Substitutes not used: Penny, Mahon.

Referee: N Miller (Durham).