Chris O'Grady missed an 84th-minute penalty as Barnsley sunk to the bottom of the Championship with a 1-0 loss at Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.
The Reds' top-scorer struck the post from the spot after Ryan McLaughlin – the visitors' best player on the day – was clearly fouled by Alex Baptiste.
Barnsley remain five points adrift of safety with five games to play but drop a place to last because Yeovil Town drew with Bournemouth.
Bolton's goal came on 44 minutes when the Reds defence waited for an offside flag which never game as Jermaine Beckford ran onto a long ball by Matt Mills and was in yards out space to round Luke Steele and tap into the empty net. Danny Wilson said afterwards that it was not offside but added that many decisions went against the Reds including what he thought was a penalty for a foul on Chris O'Grady by Liam Trotter.
Beckford missed a similar chance to the goal on 60 minutes when Steele made a fine save and the rebound trickled just wide. Steele also did well to keep out Andre Moritz but it was the Reds who had the better chances.
Dale Jennings blazed over from five yards from a cross by McLaughlin who twice headed wide while O'Grady fired straight at the goalkeeper on a couple of occasions when well-placed.
