Barnsley vs Fulham. Sky Bet Championship.
Oakwell StadiumAttendance12,147.
Saturday 27 January 2018 19:20, UK
Kevin McDonald and Ryan Sessegnon both scored in time added-on as Fulham clinched their sixth win in seven Sky Bet Championship matches by defeating 10-man Barnsley 3-1 at Oakwell.
The Cottagers came into the match on the back of a six-match unbeaten streak in the second tier but they fell behind just after the half hour though Liam Lindsay's scrappy goal.
Sessegnon levelled just after the break following Dimitri Cavare's senseless red card on the stroke of half-time and the visitors snatched all three points at the death.
It was cruel luck on the Tykes, who remain two points above the drop zone, while Fulham are into the top six after clinching a fourth straight league win.
Barnsley were the better team in the first half though and their opener just after the half hour-mark was little more than they deserved up to that point.
A corner led to a goalmouth scramble, where Fulham goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli made an initial save - but Lindsay was on hand to bundle the ball home after 31 minutes.
Before that the hosts had good openings through Stephen Mallan and George Moncur. The former forced Bettinelli into beating the ball away from an early effort from range while Moncur's shot after good interlinking play was blocked by team-mate Kieffer Moore.
Just before the break, Barnsley were reduced to 10 men. Cavare - who had been booked only minutes earlier for a trip on Sessegnon - was shown a second yellow card and sent off after shoving Johansen rather needlessly in the back of the head after being fouled.
The visitors came out of the traps quickly in the second half and after 49 minutes they were level. Ryan Fredericks did brilliantly to beat two men inside the box and although he was denied by the post, the rebound was pounced on Sessegnon to net his 10th goal of the campaign.
With 25 minutes to go, substitute Neeskens Kebano went close to putting the visiting side in front, cutting in from the left and then firing inches over the bar.
Fulham were to have the final word as McDonald bundled the ball home in scrappy fashion in the second minute of injury time and Sessegnon then added gloss to the scoreline in the fifth minute of injury time when he turned in Kebano's cross on the counter-attack.
Paul Heckingbottom: "They say you get what you deserve - we didn't deserve to win. Lots of things I was really pleased with and that's what we're going to focus on. I'm really pleased with lots of individuals and the team as a group. There's always things we can be better at.
"We know how good Fulham are, everyone is finding that out now in this league. There's reasons why they scored. Forget that third goal - that was us trying to get an equaliser in the dying seconds.
"Before that I couldn't see them scoring. If it was it was going to be something from range. It was just unfortunate we couldn't get the win."
Slavisa Jokanovic: "We didn't find enough pace in the ball, they pressed us very strong. We didn't adapt ourselves, we didn't find the best way to play.
"They scored one goal - it was probably a foul. In the rules some books say when you touch the keeper in the six-yard box this is a foul - in the end it's a situation where Marcus Bettinelli can't move.
"We arrived last season in the top six and played (in the) play-offs but nobody is guaranteed anything. We need to keep going and be focused and push hard."
