Barnsley blasted their way into the League One play-off places with a terrific 3-1 win Walsall on Saturday.

A superb strike by Ashley Fletcher put Barnsley ahead then, after Walsall levelled soon after, two more excellent goals in six minutes early in the second half by Josh Brownhill and Harry Chapman secured victory.

The Reds are now in sixth place, three points clear of the sides outside the play-off spot, after winning 11 of their last 13 league games. 

Caretaker Paul Heckingbottom - who has won five out of his seven games - made two changes from the side that won at home to Coventry on Tuesday with loanees Harry Chapman and Callum Connolly coming in for their professional debuts in place of injured duo James Bree and Sam Winnall.

Walsall's Romaine Sawyers and Reds captain Conor Hourihane both fired early shots off target before Anthony Forde almost put the hosts ahead when his 25-yard free-kick smacked against the top of the left post.

Barnsley took the lead on 18 minutes when Fletcher picked up the ball more than 30 yards out, skipped past two defenders and fired a low left-footed shot into the bottom right corner from the edge of the box. The excellent individual goal was the Manchester United loanee's third in his last five games.

It was 1-1 11 minutes later. Tom Bradshaw – who had been denied by a fantastic point blank save from Adam Davies a minute earlier – tapped in the rebound after Barnsley's goalkeeper made another excellent stop from Andy Taylor.

Walsall were slightly on top in the first but the Reds were outstanding after the interval. 

Fletcher could have netted a second three minutes after the break but he hooked wide five yards out after a long throw from Marc Roberts caused chaos in the Walsall box.

The Reds then re-took the lead when Brownhill smashed in a magnificent 25-yarder over the home goalkeeper on 50 minutes.

It was 3-1 six minutes later when Chapman joined Brownhill in getting his first goal for the club. The Middlesbrough loanee picked the ball on the halfway loan during a counter-attack and, despite having men free on the right, he decided to shoot himself and slipped the ball past Neil Etheridge with confidence.

Ex-Red Milan Lalkovic missed a superb chance late on when he fired straight at Davies with the goal gaping.