Barnsley held on for a 3-2 win having been 3-0 up in their relegation scrap at Colchester United on Saturday.
The Reds cruised into a 3-0 lead after an hour thanks to goals from Conor Hourihane, Adam Hammill and Ivan Toney. But Colchester fought back with goals in the 67th and 70th minutes then missed several chances to draw level.
The result took Barnsley off the bottom of the league and above Colchester but they are still in the relegation zone in 21st. Only goal difference separates them and Fleetwood who are jut outside the bottom four.
Head coach Lee Johnson kept the same team that won at Wigan the previous week and they dominated the first half.
Lewin Nyatanga headed just wide after 65 seconds from a Hammill free-kick. Marley Watkins' header from Sam Winnall's cross was saved by home goalkeeper Jamie Jones then, after the ball bounced around the box, Hammill's shot was inches away from the top left corner.
The opening goal came after 18 minutes when Ivan Toney's fine pass put Winnall clean through then Jones came out and nudged it to the left of the six-yard box but Hourihane was there to fire in.
It was 2-0 in the 40th minute when Winnall's excellent pass unpicked the Football League's worst defence and Hammill was in yards of space on the left of the box to place a shot into the bottom right corner.
All Colchester could muster before the break were shots from Gavin Massey and Marvin Sordell from long range which failed to test goalkeeper Adam Davies. But the visitors were much more incisive early in the second half. Chris Porter came on at the break and went through one-on-one within a minute only for Davies to come out and block. Tom Eastman then headed the resulting corner against the cross bar. Sordell then sent Richard Brindley clean through but the right-back fired across goal and two yards wide.
Colchester's misses cost them badly as Toney got a third for Barnsley on the hour. The teenager headed in his second in as many games after Marley Watkins' good run and lofted cross on the right of the box.
The hosts responded midway through the second half when he ran onto Porter's pass on the left of the box and fired across Davies into the bottom right corner for 3-1. It was 3-2 three minutes later when Porter chested down a fine ball over the Reds defence by Callum Harriott then blasted into the top left corner.
It was almost three home goals in five minutes but Davies did well to touch Harriott's powerful low 25-yard shot around his left post.
Barnsley then had a goal ruled out for offside as Nyatanga converted Hourihane's free-kick only to see the linesman's flag go up.
Colchester missed a glaring chance to level on 84 minutes when Brindley's cross from the right went all the way to the back post where it was put over the bar from two yards out by a combination of Macauley Bonne and Porter.
Sordell then nudged the ball wide from close range after a deflected shot put him clean through but Davies had rushed out to put pressure on. Moncur curled just wide of the left post from the edge box of the box after cutting in from the left.
