How Barnsley built the leagues tightest defence

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All’s well at Oakwell: how Barnsley built Football League’s tightest defence

Ethan Pinnock and Liam Lindsay are linchpins of a backline that has Barnsley on course for a return to the Championship


There is something about Barnsley and the art of defending. In the Yorkshire town where John Stones and Alfie Mawson honed their craft, a new era of centre-backs is quietly going about its business. At the heart of a near-watertight defence that boasts the best record in the Football League, Ethan Pinnock and Liam Lindsay are providing a steely platform for Daniel Stendel’s side to shine. With six games to play, the team are second in League One and well placed to return to the Championship at the first attempt.

Portsmouth and Sunderland may yet have something to say about that but Barnsley had kept seven clean sheets on the spin before their backline was breached on Saturday for the first time in more than 11 hours, when Jordy Hiwula struck for Coventry in a 2-2 draw.

Under Stendel, the charismatic German head coach, there is no room for negativity but any pessimistic fans will point towards three draws in their past four matches as evidence that the promotion push is stalling. The more optimistic will highlight a 20-match unbeaten run or the 20 clean sheets – more than any other team in the country this season – and that those draws came against teams chasing promotion.

Barnsley have conceded 30 goals in 40 matches, which translates as 0.75 goals per game. Stones has been part of an even meaner Manchester City defence but Mawson’s story is perhaps more pertinent for Pinnock given that the Fulham defender also dropped into non-league, in his case after being released by Reading. Pinnock points to Chris Smalling, the Manchester United defender who turned professional at 18 after leaving Maidstone United, as his inspiration. What do Mawson, Smalling and Pinnock have in common? They were all rejected by Millwall; Mawson had an unsuccessful trial, the others were released in their mid-****s. “You have to look up at other players who have experienced what you have, gone through some of the trials and tribulations that I had,” Pinnock says.

After being forensically scouted, Pinnock and Lindsay were shrewd signings by Paul Heckingbottom, now in charge of Hibernian, in the summer of 2017. Pinnock was picked up for £500,000 after a season in the National League with Forest Green Rovers and Lindsay from Partick Thistle for around £360,000. For Pinnock, who spent eight years at Dulwich Hamlet after leaving Millwall aged 15, it was an golden opportunity, a season after leaving the seventh tier.


“It has been a big jump since going a few leagues up with Forest Green,” Pinnock says. “Doing double and triple sessions was a bit of a shock to the body at first. It has been a bit surreal but all through the rise I have always kept my belief, worked hard and kept working at my craft. Even if you are not where you want to be, you always have to have that bit of hope that you’re good enough to get there.”

Pinnock is not the only player to progress from Dulwich into the league, with Erhun Oztumer, Reise Allassani and Shawn McCoulsky notable success stories for manager, Gavin Rose, and his assistant, Junior Kadi. “They had belief that I could step up when things weren’t going so great,” says Pinnock, who represented England C alongside others who have since climbed into the third tier, including Jamal Lowe, the Portsmouth forward, Alex Woodyard, the Peterborough captain, and Kieffer Moore, a clubmate at Oakwell.

“A lot of the boys have done well. I think it is a good way to pick up talent, in non-league. Sometimes clubs can be hesitant to take a chance but there are some very good players still down there. I would say clubs are taking non-league players more seriously than ever. I definitely think people are taking more notice of it and even below the National League.”

Two years after joining Dulwich’s successful Aspire Academy, Pinnock underwent an operation to repair an osteochondral lesion in one of his knees, an injury that left him wondering whether his hopes of forging a career in the game were over. “Players at 18 and 19, that’s when they are looking to make their stamp on the first team,” says Pinnock, who was juggling a physical education degree at the University of Greenwich with playing and coaching in schools. “I was in the lower league, with a really huge setback and mentally at times it can get the better of you. The doctor put in three pins but I was worried that it might be the end of my journey. Luckily, my rehab went well and I was able to come back stronger.”


As preposterous as it may sound, at 25 Pinnock is one of the more senior in a youthful Barnsley squad. The starting XI against Coventry had an average age of just over 23 and the goalkeeper and captain Adam Davies, who does not turn 27 until July, is the oldest member of the squad. Barnsley have a habit of recruiting raw talent from lower leagues. The January arrivals Callum Styles and Jordan Green, who signed from Bury and Yeovil respectively, are others. Up front the onus is on Cauley Woodrow and Jacob Brown to find the net in the absence of the 18-goal top-scorer Moore, who is out for the season.

If all goes to plan, the likelihood is Woodrow will face his former club Fulham in the Championship next season. “We want to stick to our principles and finish off the last bit,” Pinnock says.