Barnsley looking to get off the mark against Coventry

Barnsley look to bounce back from a poor start to the season as they play host to Championship newcomers Coventry City.

The Tykes are without a Championship goal after two games following 1-0 and 2-0 defeats to Luton and Reading respectively. Their defeat against the Royals does, however, come with the caveat of having had two men sent off.

Before this point, it was very much Barnsley who were on top with Reading having created very little before the first red card.

The South Yorkshire side were then humbled 6-0 by a strong Chelsea side in the League Cup on Tuesday. Despite forcing Blues keeper Willy Caballero into some good saves, mistakes ultimately proved costly for the Tykes as they were punished by the individual quality of the Premier League side.

After getting knocked out by Gillingham in the second round of the League Cup, Coventry had the chance to enjoy a weeks rest following their 3-2 win over QPR last Saturday. It was a victory that saw the Sky Blues get off the mark in the Championship after suffering an opening day defeat to Bristol City.

And it was a fine way to get of the mark too, with stand-in captain Kyle McFadzean crashing in an 84th-minute winner from a corner with a thumping header, settling a thrilling encounter. It was the Sky Blue’s first Championship victory since defeating Hull 2-0 in March 2012.

Team news

Barnsley will see the return of defenders Mads Andersen of Michal Helik this weekend after both served one-match suspensions in midweek after receiving red cards against Reading.

Helik was dismissed for denying a goalscoring opportunity, while Andersen was dealt two yellows.

The hosts will still be without defender Ben Williams who remains a long absentee due to injury.

Coventry captain Liam Kelly remains unavailable after a small hamstring tear saw him miss City’s victory over QPR last week.

It was confirmed, though, that the midfielder has started back in training.

Wing-back Julien Dacosta is still out with an ankle ligament injury, while Wes Jobello remains sidelined due to an ACL injury.

Barnsley head coach Gerhard Struber remains positive despite the midweek thrashing.

“When we look back at this game, particularly in the first half, there were many good situations for us. The pressing was good, we had a great intensity and aggression in our style, but again we fail to use our best chances,” said Struber.

The former Wolfsberger boss also stressed the importance of viewing the Chelsea game in context, saying: “Coventry is a more realistic game because Chelsea is an outstanding team with a completely different ability to my players – this is the reality. 

“We will learn from the Chelsea game and go with a good feeling into the game on Saturday.  Coventry is the most important game of the week, everyone knows this.”

Mark Robins wary of Barnsley bounce-back.

“We don’t take any notice of the result necessarily. It’s a case of what they do and when we analyse them they’ve got some brilliant characters and some real strengths and we’ve got to cope with that psychologically and physically,” said Robins. 

The Coventry manager also made clear the onus is on his players still to perform, saying: “it’s up to us to go there and try and cause them problems and if we do that then we’ll be one of the first to do so because they restrict team’s chances.

“It’ll be an interesting game and as we know they’ve got some interesting players there.”

Head-to-head

The two sides last met in League One during the 2018/19 season. Despite winning promotion that season, Barnsley saw Coventry steal four points from them with the Sky Blues claiming a 1-0 victory at the Ricoh Arena before a 2-2 draw the last time the sides met at Oakwell.