Wigan Athletic pay for profligacy and indiscipline as Barnsley find a late sickener
Wigan Athletic paid the penalty for not building on Joe Taylor’s opening goal, as Barnsley took advantage of the late sending-off of Callum Wright to force a stoppage-time equaliser at Oakwell.
The first two chances of the game fell to Latics, with Wright's deflected shot and Joe Taylor's drilled effort both well saved by Owen Goodman.
At the other end, David McGoldrick latched on to a long goal kick and, with Jensen Weir tugging at him, the veteran striker ploughed on only to but finish tamely into the hands of Sam Tickle.
Latics were playing well, though, and they took the lead on 29 minutes with a goal of effortless simplicity.
It started with Tickle, who gathered the ball and booted it forward, deep into the Barnsley half.
Taylor latched on to it, and lobbed the ball over the advancing goalkeeper from 20 yards.
A blistering strike from Wright almost broke the post in half as Latics flew at the opponents, with Taylor then forcing another good save from Goodman.
The only downside at half-time was that the game wasn't already in the bag, and Barnsley came back into it after the break.
A stinging strike from Adam Phillips was repelled by a fine save by Tickle, before Latics a shot themselves in the foot with two minutes to go.
Wright lunged in and made a late contact with an opponent for a second yellow card, and the Tykes were further lifted with nine added minutes being signalled by the fourth official.
A brilliant free-kick by Luca Connell, bound for the top corner, was tipped on to the bar and over for a corner by Tickle.
Corey O'Keeffe then cut in and drilled a shot against the outside of the post with Latics desperately hanging on at this point.
And the equaliser eventually arrived in the sixth of nine added minutes, when McGoldrick's long-range shot was superbly parried out by Tickle, only for substitute Charlie Lennon to steer the rebound home.