Swansea City 1-1 Barnsley: Draw deepens Tykes' relegation worries

Swansea City beat Barnsley in last season's Championship play-off semi-finals

Barnsley squandered the opportunity to revive their ailing hopes of avoiding relegation as they drew from a winning position at Swansea City.

The visitors missed several first-half chances before Claudio Gomes gave them a deserved lead after the break.

Just seconds after Swansea defender Joel Latibeaudiere hit his own post, Olivier Ntcham equalised for the hosts with a superb curling strike.

Matthew Wolfe and Cauley Woodrow missed further chances for Barnsley late on.

With Reading winning at Sheffield United, Barnsley are now 10 points adrift of safety in the Championship with only five matches to play this season.

Swansea remain 14th. If there was still the faintest notion of reaching the play-offs, those aspirations are now all but done.

Peterborough United's win over Blackburn Rovers means Barnsley are now second from bottom of the table, and one of the reasons for their lowly position has been their dire form on the road.

They came into this match with the worst away record in the Championship, a tally of seven points including only one victory.

However, for much of this encounter, Poya Asbaghi's side looked like claiming a rare triumph away from Oakwell and they started well at the Swansea.com Stadium, with Domingos Quina at the heart of every attack.

The Portuguese on loan from Watford had a free-kick tipped over by Andy Fisher, before forcing the Swans goalkeeper into an another save with a powerful low drive.

Swansea enjoyed their usual long spells of possession but did little with them and were fortunate not to concede in the first half as Barnsley's chances continued to pile up, Morris volleying wide from Callum Brittain's cross and the unmarked Liam Kitching heading wide from a corner.

By contrast, the Swans produced few efforts of note, apart from Joel Piroe's in the first minute and Matt Grimes' long-range short in the 40th minute - both saved by Jack Walton.

Having wasted several first-half opportunities, Barnsley capitalised on their first in the second period. Amine Bassi's pass found Gomes, who steadied himself and drilled a low finish into the far corner.

Passionate celebrations from players and fans suggested Barnsley believed this was a significant goal in their bid to stage an improbable escape act from the bottom three - but those hopes were dealt a severe blow in a dramatic few seconds.

Swansea defender Latibeaudiere almost extended the visitors' lead as he mishit his clearance on to the post and, following a swift break from the hosts, substitute Ntcham brought them level as he ran on to Cyrus Christie's pass on the edge of the penalty area and connected with a sweet first-time shot which arced over Walton and into the net.

Wolfe missed a glorious opportunity moments later as he blazed over from Quina's cross, and then a stretching Woodrow could only volley over.

Although Swansea did not have as much to play for, they too pushed for a winner and were close to compounding Barnsley's misery with the final act of the match but Piroe missed the target with his free header.

Swansea City head coach Russell Martin: "I think we'll learn a lot from today, especially ahead of next season.

"It was a different pressure on the guys. I don't like using that word, but there was an expectancy from us with the form we've been in to beat a team near the bottom of the table, but it never happens like that. Every game in this league is really difficult. It'll be a really good learning tool for us.

"It's really frustrating that we've dropped two points. We had some great chances at the end. We lacked a bit of composure and calmness. We got caught up in the frenzy of the game, which it had turned into at that point."

Barnsley manager Payo Asbaghi: "The performance itself, it was a good performance, and I'm happy with the performance. But I'm not happy with a point here because we've still lost ground, and the gap becomes even bigger.

"For us at the moment with so few games left it's a tough one but in terms of the performance it was a really good performance today for the players in a tough away game.

"We are in a situation where we have to depend on other results. What we need to do with five games left is show the same spirit that we showed in this game."