Alex Mowatt scored a superb long-range goal in the eighth minute but Plymouth levelled late in the first half. Both sides had several chances to win as the visitors belied their lowly position with a good performance.
The Reds are now unbeaten in nine matches at Oakwell since March while they have slipped down one place to sixth.
Daniel Stendel made three changes from the side who won 3-1 at Fleetwood Town on Saturday. Weekend scorer Jacob Brown dropped out of the side along with George Moncur and Mike Bahre.
Into the starting 11 came Victor Adeboyejo, who made his first start in the league for Barnsley, as well as Ryan Hedges, who played for the first time this season due to injury, and Mamadou Thiam who netted at Fleetwood.
Thiam forced visiting goalkeeper Matt Macey into two early saves, as he tipped a 25-yard effort over the bar then got down to his right to make an even better stop after the Barnsley winger slid in to get a foot on a low cross by fellow Frenchman Dimitri Cavare.
But Macey was eventually beaten in the eighth minute by Mowatt who received a short corner and was not closed down as he brilliantly curled a shot from 25 yards out on the left wing into the top right corner. Plymouth’s Stuart O’Keefe attempted to reply in similarly spectacular style but volleyed over from the edge of the box then, at the other end, Adeboyejo’s 15-yard shot was blocked by a defender after a good run and pass by Cavare.
Kieffer Moore nodded a Thiam corner just wide of the top left corner but it was the visitors who began creating the better chances, with striker Freddie Ladapo producing three glaring misses in 15 minutes.
He was put clean through twice by the impressive Ruben Lameiras but was first denied by Adam Davies who blocked well with his chest then fired wide of the bottom left corner. Ladapo then beat Adam Jackson in the box but scuffed wide of the right post ten yards out when the goal was once again gaping.
It was Lameiras who equalised when he cut in from the left wing and fired a 20-yard shot into the bottom right corner. Barnsley were down to ten men at that point with left-back Dani Pinillos off injured, and he was then replaced by Brad Potts who went onto the wing with Hedges dropping back to left-back. Barnsley finished the first half well, with some dangerous crosses just missing their intended targets and Moore forcing Macey into another good save as he clawed the low 20-yard shot out of his bottom left corner.
It was Plymouth who began better after the break, with Graham Carey firing a shot from wide on the left of the box inches wide of the bottom right corner.
But Barnsley improved with another Mowatt long-ranger forcing Macey to save at full strength after an excellent pass by Dougall then Potts headed wide from a tight angle at the back post when he met Hedges’ left-wing cross.
Moore then blazed over with the goal at his mercy ten yards out after being put through by a clever clipped Thiam pass.
Moore forced another good save out of Macey with a low 25-yard shot which looked destined for the bottom right corner. He blazed over on the turn after resulting Thiam corner was headed down by Adam Jackson.
Lameiras’ attempted cross from the left wing almost swirling into the top corner but hit the crossbar, after a move down Barnsley’s right which was left totally unguarded by Cavare who appeared to have something in his eye and stopped playing.
Substitute Mike Bahre came close in the 86th minute as he brought down a left wing cross, turned and fired over from 12 yards out. Another replacement George Moncur sliced a shot well over from 25 yards in injury time.
Barnsley: Davies; Cavare, Jackson, Pinnock, Pinillos (Potts 41mins); Thiam (Moncur 85), Mowatt, Dougall, Hedges; Adeboyejo (Bahre 59), Moore. Subs: Walton, Lindsay, McGeehan, Brown. Booked: Dougall, Pinillos. Goals: Mowatt 8.
Plymouth: Macey; Moore, Edwards, Grant, Smith-Brown, ; O’Keefe, Songo’o, Fox, Carey; Lameiras (Wylde 84), Ladapo. Subs: Grant, Ainsworth, Dyson, Letheren, Rooney, Fletcher Yellow cards: O’Keefe. Goals: Lameiras 39.
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