Barnsley were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Neil Warnock's Cardiff City on Tuesday as their winless run was extended to eight games.
The Reds had the best chances and were on top for large spells against a visiting side who did not have a shot on target for the first 90 minutes but the hosts could not score and remain 13th in the Championship table.
Paul Heckingbottom made two changes from the side who drew 1-1 with Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday as he stuck with the 4-5-1 formation with Tom Bradshaw on his own up front. Gethin Jones returned from illness to replace the injured Andy Yiadom at left-back while Marley Watkins replaced the benched Ryan Kent on the wing.
The Reds began brightly and almost scored a superb team goal after 30 seconds. Right-back Saidy Janko skipped past Greg Halford on his way into the box then pulled the ball back to Adam Hammill who touched it on to Watkins whose shot was deflected just wide of the top right corner.
The rest of the first half was extremely quiet, although Barnsley looked marginally the more dangerous of the two sides. Cardiff's Greg Halford almost scored an own goal when he tried to cut out a low cross by Watkins after another good move down the right but he recovered to scramble it away from his net.
Barnsley also started the second half on top with Angus MacDonald heading Hammill's left-wing corner wide at the front post. Bluebirds goalkeeper Brian Murphy, who came on at half-time for the injured Allan McGregor, made a superb double. Janko, who had burst in from the right, had an initial shot that was blocked but hit the Reds player and forced an excellent stop by McGregor, who dived brilliantly to his right then impressively kept out Hammill's rebound effort seconds later.
McGregor then saved more comfortably from a long-range Josh Scowen shot before producing a sliding tackle at the feet of the same player who had been played through by Watkins on the right of the box. He also saved with ease from a long-range Hammill effort and MacDonald's flicked header from a Marc Roberts long throw.
Cardiff's first real chance came in the 73rd minute when Kenneth Zohore broke down the right of the Reds box but goalkeeper Adam Davies came off his line and smothered the ball before he come get a shot away. Anthony Pilkington blasted over after Craig Noone played a short free-kick to him.
Jones almost registered his first career goal but he sent a low 25-yard shot just wide of the left post then substitute Adam Armstrong played in Watkins on the right side of the box but he could not really test Murphy who dived down to his right to save. Davies saved with ease from Craig Noone and Zohore in injury-time but the Reds were the side who had the better chances overall.
