Barnsley have had a very rocky start to life back in the Championship and could be staring down the barrel of an immediate relegation back to League One, after clinching promotion last season.

They came up from the third tier under the management of Daniel Stendel, with things looking promising heading into the summer as a number of key players were showing a lot of promise.

However, the Tykes’ hopes were dashed thoroughly as Adam Davies, Ethan Pinnock, Liam Lindsay, and Kieffer Moore were all sold off to Championship rivals to be replaced by relatively unknown players with little experience of the division.

Stendel’s job was made infinitely hard by this activity in the transfer market and he had to pay with his job in October following a string of poor results, to eventually be replaced by Gerhard Struber, who has managed to restore some positivity with decent results here and there.

However, as we approach the final nine games of the season, the overriding feeling at Oakwell has been a downbeat one as they sit seven points adrift of safety, while the teams above them keep themselves at arm’s length.

The EFL’s recent postponement has put a halt to Barnsley’s deline temporarily, so while the club bides their time away from the Oakwell turf, we take a look at the two worst moments of their season so far…

Preston North End 5-1 Barnsley

Barnsley started the season in perfect fashion with a 1-0 win at home to promotion-hopefuls Fulham, but then failed to record a single win until November, when Struber had taken charge.

A summary of their performances in that winless run was a trip to Deepdale to face a Preston side looking like a good shout for the play-offs.

Daniel Stendel took charge of this clash and it was well-understood that he was unhappy with the club’s summer business to replace key players with untested, youthful options. This game showed exactly why he was so unhappy with the transfers as they fell to a heavy defeat, with costly errors and poor defending all over the pitch being punished by the Lilywhites.

Following the game, Stendel didn’t hold back in his comments about the performance, where he told the Lancashire Evening Post: “You can see today over the 90 minutes that both in the small things and the big situations we played like a youth team – bad touches, fouls and mistakes.”

It was to be his last act as Tykes chief, and sunk the club to new depths in the Championship as they were without a manager and still rooted to the bottom of the table.

Can you get 16/16 in this Barnsley quiz?

Defeat at home to Birmingham

Fast-forward to February and Barnsley’s situation hasn’t improved despite the change in management and tactical style bringing some more positive performances.

Pep Clotet’s Birmingham City side made the trip to South Yorkshire looking to keep up their solid run of form and did so in narrow circumstances as Scott Hogan’s second-half strike was enough to hand the Blues all three points.

A 1-0 defeat at home might not seem like a damning defeat on face value, but nothing was working that day as they deservedly fell to defeat.

The clock was (and still is) on their Championship survival hunt and this game gave that sinking feeling that their fate is sealed without it being mathematically true.

The individual ‘efforts’ of Mads Andersen this season have caused a lot of debate amongst the Tykes fan base, and his attempts to defend against Jude Bellingham in the buildup to the only goal did his case no favours as he put up little resistance when he broke down the wing to cross to Hogan.

Results picked up straight after this with three straight wins but this further exemplified the mood in the camp after the Blues defeat, clear kicking them into gear.