Barnsley moved well clear of the League One relegation zone with a comprehensive 3-1 win at near neighbours Rotherham United.
Adam Phillips opened the scoring towards the end of a scrappy first half with chances for both sides then the Reds were well on top with Tom Bradshaw bagging a brace.
They conceded a last-gasp penalty, meaning they set a new club record for 26 games in a row without a clean sheet within the same season.
It was a first win in six for Barnsley who moved up a place to 12th, seven points clear of the relegation zone.
Conor Hourihane made four changes to the team that lost at home to Plymouth on Monday. Luca Connell and David McGoldrick were both unavailable with Phillips – who was captain – and Scott Banks coming back into the team. Josh Earl and Corey O’Keeffe returned from injury, replacing Jack Shepherd and Reyes Cleary.
Barnsley looked certain to score in the eighth minute when Banks’ free-kick was headed across goal by Mael de Gevigney and Tom Bradshaw was denied a tap-in by a Sam Nombe block on the line.
Rotherham nearly took the lead midway through the first half when ex-Red Josh Benson’s free-kick was headed over by Gabriele Biancheri a few yards out. The same player missed another good chance three minutes later, blazing over ten yards out by Harry Gray nudged Nombe’s right-wing cross into his path.
Zak Jules then lost the ball deep in Rotherham’s half and Banks’ cross from the left found Phillips who was denied on the right of the box by goalkeeper Ted Cann.
Earl lost the ball to Jamal Baptiste who played through Gray on the left of the box and his shot was saved by Owen Goodman then it hit Eoghan O’Connell who had to clear off the line to avoid an own goal.
The opener arrived on 37 minutes against the run of play. After a period of defending, Bradshaw brilliantly won the ball and it fell to Patrick Kelly with Barnsley having three on one in attack. Kelly passed to Phillips who rifled into the bottom left corner from the edge of the box.
Banks should have made it 2-0 on the stroke of half-time when more poor home defending saw him burst into the box on the left but he saw a pass cut out when he should have shot.
Early in the second half, Earl lost the ball to Gray just outside his box but was rescued by a controversial free-kick for Barnsley.
The Reds had another huge chance for 2-0 on 55 minutes when, after a fine Phillips pass, O’Keeffe was clean through on the right but had a shot saved when he could have squared for Bradshaw to tap into the empty net.
Bradshaw eventually headed into the bottom left corner from a fine Bland cross midway through the second half, ending a ten-game goalless run and sparking jubilation in the away end.
Nine minutes later, Rotherham gifted Bradshaw the ball and he went clean through to again find the bottom left corner.
Rotherham netted in injury-time when O’Connell was judged to have fouled Nombe in the box and the home striker scored the penalty.
Barnsley (4-5-1): Goodman; O’Keeffe, de Gevigney, O’Connell, Earl (Watson 78mins); Phillips (Shepherd 78), Kelly (Roberts 89), Bland, Yoganathan, Banks (Cleary 69); Bradshaw (Farrell 89).
Unused: Flavell, Ogbeta.
Yellow cards: O’Keeffe, Yoganathan, de Gevigney.
Goals: Phillips 37, Bradshaw 65, 74.
Rotherham (4-3-3): Cann; Baptiste, Agbaire (Hall HT), Jules, James; Benson (Hugill 68), Gore, Kelly (Watmore 58), Biancheri (Martha HT), Nombe, Gray.
Unused: Childs, Rafferty, Lee, Hugill.
Goals: Nombe 90+5 (pen).
