Barnsley 1-1 Scunthorpe United
Report from Oakwell

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Paul Hayes came back to haunt his former club Barnsley by netting a vital equaliser for Scunthorpe, who drew 1-1 at Oakwell on Wednesday night.

It was his side's fifth away point of the season, and they came back from behind after Hugo Colace had put the Tykes ahead early in the second half.

Hayes, who was with the South Yorkshire club for two years, scored on the hour mark to ensure a share of the spoils.

The Iron entered the match making two changes from the side which beat Coventry City 1-0 at Glanford Park on Sunday.

Replacing the injured Martyn Woolford (cut foot) and Michael O'Connor (dead leg) were Garry Thompson and Sam Togwell.

Joe Murphy overcame a knee injury scare to start for Scunthorpe, with the defence consisting of Cliff Byrne, David Mirfin, Rob Jones and Marcus Williams.

The midfield consisted of Garry Thompson, Sam Togwell, Josh Wright and Grant McCann, while Hayes partnered Gary Hooper up front.

The substitutes were Josh Lillis, Andrew Wright, Jordan Spence, George Friend, Matt Sparrow, Jonathan Forte and Adam Boyes.

Oakwell was sparsely populated for the clash, with a small Iron following of approximately 500 making the journey.

United, wearing their away kit of all sky blue for the game, were chasing their second away win of the league season.

The game got off to a slow start with neither side impressing going forward in the opening 10 minutes, with the first real chance arriving courtesy of Ryan Shotton's blast wide in the 15th minute.

The game exploded into life two minutes later as Daniel Bogdanovich burst clear down the left-hand side of the penalty area and cut inside before firing in a shot which Murphy got down well to tip out.

A short while later Scunthorpe broke forward and Hayes' shot was blocked just as it seemed it was going to test Tykes' stopper Luke Steele.

21 minutes in, Murphy was forced into a save when Shotton's bullet header from a corner was heading goalwards.

The game was flowing from end to end and Hooper was next to come close when he fizzed a low effort just wide of Steele's bottom left-hand post.

Scunthorpe made an early change in the 30th minute when Marcus Williams came off with a head injury to be replaced by Friend. As he walked down the tunnel to receive treatment he received a huge applause from the Scunthorpe following,

Then, on the stroke of half-time, Adam Hammill curled a free-kick well over the crossbar. It was the last chance of an even opening period. Both teams were applauded off at the break.

At the start of the second period, the end to end play continued but neither side could find that killer touch in front of goal.

In the 51st minute McCann probed the best Scunthorpe chance of the night so far when he curled a free-kick towards goal from 25 yards which was superbly tipped out to his left by Steele.

Typical of this game though, the Tykes almost scored on their next attack when Jon Macken hooked a volleyed effort wide.

The Tykes went ahead in the 55th minute, however, when De Silva low cross from the right was struck into the back of the net from 12 yards by Colace.

Scunthorpe levelled in the 60th minute, though, as Hayes bundled the ball into an empty net after Hooper's header from McCann's corner had hit the post. It was Hayes' sixth goal of the season.

Friend, who had gone off bloodied after an apparent elbow from Bogdanovich, was replaced on 64 minutes by Andrew Wright as the Iron made their second alteration.

After the goal, both sides charged forward trying to gain an advantage. Andrew Wright made a good block from Colace after Murphy had tipped the ball out.

Forte came on for Hooper with 15 minutes left as the game entered its closing stages and Scunthorpe made their final alteration.

Despite late pressure from the Iron, there were few more real chances barring a late volley going narrowly wide by Thompson after good work by Hayes and McCann curling a stoppage time free-kick over the crossbar, as both defences held firm to grind out a point.

Scunthorpe are next in action on Saturday when they visit Reading.