On Good Friday, a bizarre season took yet another turn. Plymouth Argyle welcomed Bolton Wanderers to Home Park, with the visitors led by former Argyle gaffer Steven Schumacher. And, despite playing against ten men for the majority of the game, the Pilgrims somehow managed to stumble to a 2-1 defeat. It must be said that the hosts’ game management was severely lacking throughout the second half.
If there is to be a silver lining, it’s that Argyle’s season is far from over. League One’s other results on Friday were far from disastrous, and Tom Cleverley’s men still sit just three points from the final play-off place. They’ll certainly need to pick up another win soon though; with just six games to play, the chances to drop points and still “remain in contention” are dwindling.
Monday afternoon’s trip to Barnsley provides the next opportunity. And after struggling against their former manager on Friday, this time around they’ll be facing a former player, with Conor Hourihane currently in the Barnsley hotseat. Hourihane had Barnsley in relative play-off contention throughout the campaign, albeit with multiple games in hand on the top six at various stages, but a recent run of five without a win means they seem to be one of the league’s more obvious mid-table picks.
With Good Friday not living up to its name, will this Easter Monday clash bring some seasonal cheer to the Green Army?
The reverse fixture
2nd August 2025: Plymouth Argyle 1 (Watts 50’) Barnsley 3 (Wiredu og 13’, Phillips 30’, Keillor-Dunn 86’)
The opening day of any season is a day like no other. It creates a bubble of optimism, where all teams start on an equal footing, everything feels possible, and the trials and tribulations of the summer are put to one side in the build-up to kick off.
It’s also a bubble that, as we saw on this day, can be burst within minutes.
This game marked the start of Hourihane’s first full season in management. There was no certainty about his preferred style, but slight signs that he wanted to line up with a 4-3-3. That is indeed what we saw. Goalkeeper Murphy Cooper was protected by a back four consisting of, from left to right, Josh Earl, Jack Shepherd, Marc Roberts and Mael de Gevigney.
Whilst David McGoldrick was leading the line, much of Barnsley’s attacking game plan would be to get the creative duo of Adam Phillips and Davis Keillor-Dunn on the ball as much as possible. The presence of Luca Connell in the deep midfield position allowed the two of them to wander forward regularly. Midfielder Vimal Yoganathan and right winger Caylan Vickers completed the lineup.
It didn’t take long for the season’s first flashpoint. Just five minutes had been played when an excellent Bradley Ibrahim ball set Xavier Amaechi free on the right. Caleb Watts, playing as the lone striker in this one, got on the end of Amaechi’s cross and finished well, but the goal was belatedly ruled out for a “foul” on Roberts in the middle. It was a bizarre decision, and perhaps should have been taken as an indication of the shoddy officiating we’d be subjected to throughout the campaign.
If Argyle could blame referee Declan Bourne for that goal being ruled out, they only had themselves to blame when Barnsley took the lead shortly afterwards. Connell whipped in a free kick from the left, and it looked as though the ball was floating out of play. That was until Brendan Wiredu was on hand to tap home past Luca Ashby-Hammond and into his own net. An individual error, which would be a theme throughout the game…and indeed for the first half of the season.
Barnsley doubled their lead on the half-hour mark. It was described by Sky’s commentator as “a calamity at the back,” and it’s hard to disagree. I’ll take nothing away from Phillips, who volleyed into the net directly from Victor Palsson’s clearing header, but Argyle should never have gotten themselves into such a situation. It gave Barnsley a two-goal cushion that they’d hold until the break.
To Argyle’s credit, they did come out firing after half time, and they’d halve the deficit within five minutes. Amaechi’s free kick was headed on by Ibrahim, then by Palsson, before Watts was on hand to chest down and fire home. It came 45 minutes after it ought to have done, but Watts had his first Argyle goal, and it raised his team’s hopes of a potential comeback.
Those hopes rose even further just after the hour mark. Amaechi’s through ball was blocked by the arm of Shepherd just outside the area, and the Barnsley defender was booked for handball. Already on a yellow, he received his marching orders as a result.
It was another bizarre piece of refereeing from Bourne – he took a while to produce the red card, and it looked as though he forgot Shepherd had already been booked. Had he known, perhaps he wouldn’t have brandished a second yellow. But he did, and Shepherd had to go.
Alas, in what has become a familiar tale, Argyle couldn’t make the most of playing against ten men. Eventually, they’d be hit by a sucker punch four minutes from time, and for the third time that afternoon it was a messy goal to concede. Bali Mumba and Kornel Szucs seemed to get in each other’s way when dealing with a clearance, and the ball fell kindly to Keillor-Dunn who finished easily past Ashby-Hammond. 3-1, and that’s how it’d remain.
Argyle weren’t terrible on the day. The scoreline flattered Barnsley, and who knows what may have happened had Watts’ opening goal been correctly awarded? Nonetheless, defeat it was, and it’d be a while before the Green Army had anything to celebrate.
Similarities
Barnsley’s season may be petering out, but Hourihane has survived League One’s managerial merry-go-round thus far. It may have something to do with the fact they were in play-off contention until recently, or the fact that Hourihane is held in high regard by the Barnsley faithful from his time as a player, but he remains in his role regardless. As such, much of the Tykes’ style of play from the reverse fixture will carry over.
I think that’s likely to lead to an open game. Four goals were scored in August’s game, with both sides finding the net, and Argyle will quite rightly argue they legitimately scored a fifth. There were plenty of other chances too, and good saves made by both goalkeepers during the game. If I covered every opening in my previous match run-through, we’d be here all day.
That’s been a theme in Barnsley’s games throughout the campaign. They are possibly League One’s classic example of a “good attack, poor defence” team. Only four clubs across the league, including Argyle themselves, have scored more league goals this season than Barnsley’s 60. However, Hourihane’s men have conceded 61 times this term; only Leyton Orient and Blackpool have conceded more.
At the very least, Argyle should fancy themselves to score. They did so in the reverse fixture, and despite winning the game the Barnsley defence looked shaky on numerous occasions. As well as their poor total for goals conceded, that’s something that tends to hurt them in any given game. Across 38 league matches this season, they’ve kept just two clean sheets. It’s an astonishingly low figure, and comfortably the worst of any team in the league.
Onto individuals, and there are a couple to mention who made an impression in the reverse fixture. The first is Connell. He was crucial to the way Barnsley wanted to play in that game, as he has been ever since first joining the Tykes in 2022. He’s easily played more minutes than anyone in Barnsley’s ranks this season, and his total of 68 key passes is bettered by only three players across the league.
Phillips is still around too. His sumptuous volley was easily the best goal of the game back in August, and he’ll be a threat once more. He hasn’t built on that number as much as he may have liked, but he still has ten goal contributions in the league across the campaign. And, having scored in a 3-0 win for Barnsley against Argyle in the 2022/23 season, he’ll be looking for his third goal in as many games against the Pilgrims.
This isn’t a team that has been through major changes. There are differences, of course, and we’ll come onto those now. But Argyle got an idea of what a Hourihane team can look like back in August, and they’ll hopefully be better prepared this time around.
Differences
I’ll start with a major absentee. Keillor-Dunn was a key part of Barnsley’s side in the reverse fixture, and scored the crucial third goal to secure the points. He’d remain a key man, scoring a further 12 times in the league before the end of January. He won’t be available on Monday afternoon though, having made a January deadline day move to big-spending Championship side Wrexham. Like so many Wrexham signings, he’s barely played since arriving.
Barnsley have seen a few players come to the fore in their attempts to replace Keillor-Dunn. I’ll mention a couple now, one of whom featured in the reverse fixture, and another who was an unused substitute at Home Park.
McGoldrick is the first. I didn’t mention him as a similarity because, whilst he played 68 minutes of August’s encounter, he didn’t particularly make an impact on the game. That absolutely cannot be said for the rest of his season. The 38-year-old has had more shots (93) than any other player in the league, and he’s Barnsley’s top league scorer with 15 goals to date. Only three League One players have found the net more often.
Then there’s Reyes Cleary. For a player who didn’t feature at all in the first game of the season, Cleary has had a remarkable impact on Barnsley’s campaign. Like McGoldrick, he too has 18 goal contributions, but Cleary’s numbers are largely made up of his 12 assists. Indeed, that’s a higher figure than any other player in the division. If McGoldrick is to be the main goal threat, Cleary should be the creative foil linking the attack together.
Further personnel changes have come as the result of the transfer window, where the Tykes secured loan deals for four players. Tawanda Chirewa has barely featured since joining from Wolverhampton Wanderers, but the other three are regulars. Versatile attacker Scott Banks, for instance, has started 12 games since being borrowed from German side St Pauli. Goalkeeper Owen Goodman, on loan from Crystal Palace, is now first choice too. He’s already played against Argyle this season during an earlier spell at Huddersfield Town.
The signing of striker Tom Bradshaw from Oxford United has been particularly notable. He hasn’t started every game, but his presence as an additional striker has led to Hourihane switching more regularly to a 4-2-3-1. That has occasionally included McGoldrick officially in the number 10 role – in reality, it can often resemble Cleverley’s 4-4-2 when Watts lines up as one of the strikers.
Then there are the statistical differences. Again, I’m going to bring in the possession element. Argyle had slightly more possession in the reverse fixture, clocking in at 53%. However, that isn’t regular for Barnsley, whose average possession figure of 52.4% ranks within the league’s top seven. Argyle, as we’ve so often seen in 2026, like to play without the ball, press well, and hit their opponents with swift counter-attacks.
In other words, if Argyle are to win this game, it’s likely to follow the same blueprint of many recent away victories.
Prediction
This feels difficult to call. On paper, I’d say Argyle have the edge, but Barnsley’s home advantage and the scars of Friday’s defeat could prove difficult to overcome.
I suspect both teams will score again…and call it blind optimism, but I’m going to back the Pilgrims to get the edge. 2-1 Argyle.