English Championship bottom team Barnsley have given themselves a huge lifeline in their bid to escape demotion to League One at the end of this season following their surprising 1-0 home win over Premier League promotion chasers Queens Park Rangers (QPR) last weekend. It was their first win in 14 Championship games and they would be looking to make it two league wins in a row for the first time this season when they take on hosts Coventry City on Saturday.
Barnsley manager PoyaAsbaghi had not won any Championship game since he replaced Markus Schopp until the QPR game. Asbaghi became the new Barnsley boss in the middle of November. The win over QPR was only the third league victory of the season for the bottom team in the Championship. One of the other two victories came against Coventry City in August. Dominik Frieser scored the only goal of the game to lead South Yorkshire club Barnsley to a 1-0 home win over Coventry City at the start of the current season. Frieser has since left Barnsley.
Ahead of the trip to face Coventry City this weekend, Barnsley have a wretched record of one draw and eleven (11) losses in twelve (12) away games in the Championship this season thus making them one of two teams yet to win on the road across the four divisions of English football (alongside Premier League bottom club Burnley). Also, Barnsley don’t have a good record at Coventry City as they have not won in their last 26 visits. Their last victory at Coventry was in August 1923.
Coventry City have won a lot of their points at home this season. 61% of their points have come at home though they have only won twice in nine home meetings at the CBS Arena since October.