Barnsley suffered a fifth successive defeat as they went down 3-0 at home to promotion-chasing Derby County.
The visitors went 2-0 up with goals late in the first half then added another on 78 minutes. Derby scored with all their shots on target wheres Barnsley had more chances but were wasteful and defended poorly.
Barnsley slipped down one place to 20th and are still four points clear of the bottom three with 20 points from 21 matches.
Paul Heckingbottom made two changes from the team that lost 3-1 at Bolton Wanderers a week ago. Adam Hammill and George Moncur were replaced by Mamadou Thiam and Gary Gardner as the Reds changed to 4-4-2. Their former striker Sam Winnall was on the bench for the Rams while Stevie Mallan appeared in a Barnsley squad for the first time, but he did not come on.
Not much happened in the first quarter of the game, other than Derby striker Chris Martin heading wide from a corner. Thiam then had a low long-range effort easily saved by Scott Carson who also tipped wide a better effort from Harvey Barnes which looked destined for the top right corner. Thiam then cushioned a nice pass into the path of Barnes who dragged wide from 15 yards out on the left of the Derby penalty area.
But the visitors scored against the run of play on 39 minutes when Matty Pearson did not get enough distance on a clearing header and Tom Lawrence picked up the ball on the edge of the home box, beat Jason McCarthy and had a shot which Adam Davies got a hand on but could not keep out.
It was 2-0 four minutes later when Matej Vydra fired in from close range after a good run and low cross by Andy Weimann.
Barnsley almost halved the deficit seven minutes into the second half when Brad Potts smashed a long-range effort against the crossbar.
Derby should have made it 3-0 on 70 minutes after a counter-atatck but left-back Craig Forsyth blazed over. The Reds continued to press and substitute Ike Ugbo almost ended his three-month goal drought when he met Barnes' cross give yards out but was denied by a magnificent point blank stop from Carson.
That miss proved crucial as Weimann, who had set up the first two goals, made it 3-0 with a low shot from the edge of the box which found the bottom left corner.
Pearson scuffed a shot wide from long range then Hammill could not beat his former Liverpool club-mate Carson from tight angle on the left.
Winnall was then brought on amidst boos from the home fans. He almost got the fourth but flicked the ball just over from close range after a goalmouth scramble.
Bradshaw could not get enough power on a close-range header from a left-wing cross and Carson gathered easily. Williams then lashed one wide from 25 yards.
