Mads Juel Andersen made a memorable return to Oakwell on Wednesday, it was his first appearance at home in the league this season and brought with it only the club's second win of the campaign.

The 23-year-old has been sorely missed at the heart of defence and played a crucial role in the Tykes holding for the three points.

The Dane took to Twitter to express his emotions after the game.

He wrote: "I’ve missed nights like this! Let’s build on it and keep moving in the right direction"

Andersen played every minute of the 2020/21 campaign as Barnsley finished fifth in the Championship, except for 22 minutes he missed after getting sent off for a second bookable offence in September which was overturned before the following game.

It is understandable that the Tykes would miss him after such a huge contribution to their success under Valerien Ismael, but the extent of which would have still come as a surprise. As the likes of Cauley Woodrow and Daryl Dike took the headlines the solidity provided by Andersen alongside Michal Helik gave the Tykes the foundations to go on and achieve what they did in 2020/21.

There is another crunch encounter as Barnsley welcome the visit of 23rd placed Hull City on Saturday hoping to go into the international break after back-to-back wins.

The Verdict

 

 

Wednesday evening's victory feels huge in building momentum for Barnsley under Joseph Laumann's caretaker leadership. Jasper Moon dropped into the back three with Andersen and Helik to great effect and the trio will be hoping to limit a Hull City side who have failed to score in 11 of their last 15 league games.

A win over the Tigers could lift Barnsley out of the relegation zone which would see the club breathe a huge sigh of relief having looked doomed before the sacking of Markus Schopp. It will be interesting to see if Andersen and the team can continue to kick on after the break, potentially with a new manager at the helm.