Barnsley 2-1 Blackburn Rovers: Morris & Mowatt lift Tykes to 10th
- Published
Carlton Morris celebrates scoring Barnsley's first goal after coming on as a substitute
Carlton Morris' second Barnsley goal in as many games helped the Tykes record a deserved victory over below-par Blackburn at a sodden Oakwell.
Second-half substitute Morris, a January capture from Championship rivals Norwich, curled into the bottom corner from the edge of the box to finally reward Barnsley's superiority.
Midfielder Alex Mowatt sealed the points late on, dancing around Rovers keeper Thomas Kaminski to fire into an empty net and move Barnsley up to 10th in the table.
Blackburn top scorer Adam Armstrong raced clear to lob Brad Collins for a stoppage-time consolation but it could not prevent a third successive defeat for Rovers, who slip to 12th.
Barnsley had halted a winless league run of five games with an impressive victory at Brentford on Sunday and created far more than their toothless visitors, whose lack of goal threat is a concern for boss Tony Mowbray.
After scoring 31 in their first 16 league games, Blackburn have now managed only 12 in their past 13, and had to wait until injury-time before Armstrong's delicious chip from Harvey Elliott's through-ball provided a minor consolation.
But Armstrong's 19th Championship goal of the season ultimately mattered little, the game already lost by then and, if not for keeper Kaminski, it would have been by a heftier margin.
Kaminski foiled Conor Chaplin's early 25-yarder and diverted Victor Adeboyejo's instinctive strike on to the woodwork, while Cauley Woodrow's header and Roman Palmer's 18-yard strike were narrowly off target in a first half dominated by the hosts.
Morris finally provided the breakthrough and was unlucky not to add a second, Kaminski making another save before Mowatt waltzed through to keep Barnsley - who only stayed up on the final day last season - in touch with the play-off pack, seven points adrift of Bournemouth in sixth.
Barnsley manager Valerien Ismael:
"We told the guys at half-time that the bench will win the game because we have more possibilities now to rotate and it was exactly what we wanted. We have more possibilities to change our weapons.
"We had a big impact from the five players who came on and we scored in the right moment. But I think the last pass was really sloppy. We can finish the game earlier.
"The most important thing was the three points and we are now eight points from our first purpose, the 50-points line, and we have to keep going."
Blackburn boss Tony Mowbray:
"For the vast majority of the game I felt we did well, but it's a long way from where we want to play football.
"Barnsley are good at pressing the ball and the statistics back that up. It wasn't a night where we could play out from the back.
"We fell down with the basics in the second half. We didn't win headers and win challenges enough. We set the agenda at the start of the season and we're falling short at this moment."