Barnsley lost 2-1 at Queens Park Rangers and are now 12 points off the play-off places with ten games remaining.
The hosts took the lead in the seventh minute then doubled it midway through the second half with Angus MacDonald's own goal before substitute Tom Bradshaw pulled one back late on.
The result kept Barnsley in 11th place in the Championship and meant they have not won in 24 visits to Loftus Road, including 21 defeats.
Paul Heckingbottom made three changes from the side that lost at Derby County on Saturday. Alex Mowatt, Ryan Kent and Callum Elder came in for Bradshaw, Adam Hammill and Gethin Jones.
They played in a 4-4-2 with Josh Scowen on the right wing and Kent on the left, either side of Matty James and Mowatt while Marley Watkins and Adam Armstrong were up front.
Armstrong tested home goalkeeper Alex Smithies with a low long-range shot in the sixth minute but QPR took the lead in fortunate circumstances seconds later. A cross from the right was flicked on and hit Idrissa Sylla on the foot before trickling into the bottom left corner.
Scowen and Mowatt both fired just over from 20 yards out but QPR were more threatening early on and, when Yeni Ngbakoto shot from a similar distance, Adam Davies had to make a superb save to keep it out of the bottom left corner of his goal.
James Perch almost doubled the lead when he crashed a header against the underside of the bar after meeting a left wing cross six yards out.
Watkins then had a series of chances late in first half. He headed a James cross wide deep in the home box then failed to test Alex Smithies with a weak shot after a swift counter-attack.
Another rapid break almost brought the equaliser when Armstrong benefitted from a Nedum Onuoha error and powered down the left before squaring to Watkins who beat a man then the goalkeeper but his shot was brilliantly cleared off the line by Jake Bidwell.
Heckingbottom brought off Mowatt at the break and introduced striker Bradshaw, with Watkins moving out to the right wing and Scowen joining James in central midfield.
The Reds could not keep up the momentum that they finished the first half with as the hosts controlled the ball and were well on top.
The second goal eventually came when Pawel Wszolek beat Elder and whipped in a low ball which MacDonald attempted to intercept but turned into the bottom right corner.
Heckingbottom then took off Kent and Watkins for Hammill and Ryan Hedges and the new players injected some life into what had a been a flat second half for the Reds.
Hedges headed over a cross from Hammill then got a slight touch on a long ball which put Bradshaw clean through to round Smithies and score. But the Reds struggled to create any chances for the equaliser and suffered a second defeat of the week.
