Barnsley halved the gap to safety to two points with a deserved 2-0 home win over Bristol City on Tuesday.
The Reds raced into a 2-0 lead after 22 minutes with set piece goals by Carlton Morris and Michal Helik then held on for a sixth victory of the season.
Third-bottom Barnsley are now unbeaten in five at Oakwell while they have collected 14 points from their last eight games which is half of their tally for the season.
It was a deserved victory for the Reds who had the better chances throughout against their lacklustre visitors. Fourth-bottom Reading drew with Bournemouth so are two points ahead.
Poya Asbaghi made one change to the team that drew 1-1 with Fulham on Saturday, as Callum Styles returned from injury to replace the benched Liam Kitching. Aaron Leya Iseka also returned from injury to take his place on the bench, with Will Hondermarck and Josh Benson not in the squad. Vita returned to left-back, with Styles replacing him on the right of an attacking midfield three.
The Reds took the lead in the ninth minute when Amine Bassi won a corner on the left wing and sent it through to the back post where it hit Matty Wolfe and fell for Morris to poke it into the bottom left corner from six yards out.
Another Bassi left-wing corner led to the second goal on 22 minutes as it was brilliantly headed into the top right corner by Helik ten yards out. The Reds had scored twice from corners after not doing so at all in the league all season. It was Helik's first goal in almost exactly a year since the opener at Bournemouth on March 13, 2021.
The visitors should have pulled one back when Antoine Semenyo was released down the left wing and sent in a powerful low cross which Andi Weimann met at the back post and blazed over five yards out.
Gomes could have made it 3-0 after 35 minutes when Morris brilliantly turned a City defender twice on the right of the box, leaving him on the floor both times, before his cross fell to Claudio Gomes whose 15-yard shot was touched over.
Morris had another chance for 3-0 just after the hour-mark when, after Domingos Quina made a fine run from the right wing and was tackled, the ball popped up to him five yards out but his shot was kept out by a reaction save from Bentley. Quina then robbed Weimann of the ball and ran to the edge of the box but fired wide from 20 yards out.
Barnsley brought on Cole for Morris, who appeared to have picked up a knock, and Kitching for Styles.
City began to create chances with Chris Martin heading over from a right-wing cross by Jay Dasilva, who then forced Brad Collins into his first save of the night - diving low to his right to make a good stop from the 15-yard effort.
Bentley then saved comfortably from a long-range Kitching effort and a Vita shot from the left of the box.
Collins easily saved Rob Atkinson’s header from a free-kick by ex-Red Matty James then Bassi sliced a shot wide at the other end from the right of the box.
Kitching then headed off the line in the 93rd minute from a Martin header.
Barnsley (4-2-3-1): Collins, mark out of ten: 8; Brittain 7, Helik 8, Andersen 8, Vita 7 (Oduor 90+3mins); Wolfe 8, Gomes 7; Styles 7 (Kitching 72), Bassi 8, Quina 7, Morris 8 (Cole 71).
Unused: Walton, Iseka, Palmer, Halme, Cole.
Goals: Morris 9, Helik 22.
Bristol City (3-5-2): Bentley; Cundy, Klose, Atkinson; Weimann, James, Massengo, Scott (Williams 40mins (Wells 55)), Dasilva; Semenyo (Conway 87), Martin. Unused: Wiles-Richards, Viner, Pring, Bell, Wells.
Referee: David Webb (County Durham).
Attendance: 11, 322 (279 from Bristol).
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7:57pmGOAL!
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