Sam Winnall's brace gave Barnsley a 2-1 win over lowly Oldham Athletic on Tuesday and moved them closer to the play-off places.
Winnall put Barnsley ahead late in the first half then, after Curtis Main levelled on 68 minutes, the Reds' top-scorer won it in the 84th from the penalty spot after a foul on Adam Hammill.
Barnsley are seventh, just three points behind sixth-placed Gillingham – who lost at home to Walsall – while they also have games in hand on the teams further up the table.
Paul Heckingbottom made two changes from the side that lost at home to Chesterfield on Saturday as Marley Watkins and Ivan Toney replaced Lloyd Isgrove and Ashley Fletcher.
Oldham had the first chance when former Doncaster striker Main dragged wide from eight yards out with the goal gaping. Winnall and Alfie Mawson then headed good opportunities wide from fine crosses by Hammill and Conor Hourihane respectively in the first seven minutes.
Midway through the half, Winnall was put clean through one-on-one by a lovely Toney pass but his shot from the edge of the box struck the right post and flew away to safety.
That incident left Oldham's Brian Wilson with an injury that meant he was stretchered from the field just minutes after coming off the bench to replace Carl Winchester, who was also injured. There was a third substitution on 42 when George Williams replaced the injured James Bree as Barnsley's right-back.
Those changes made the first half a disjointed spectacle but also provided nine minutes of injury-time, the fifth of which brought Winnall's goal as he headed in a Hourihane right-sided corner from close range at the near post.
Oldham then made their third and final change at the break with Mike Jones being replaced by youngster Jack Tuohy.
Toney put the ball in the back of the net four minutes after the break but he was clearly offside. Main, Oldham's best player by far, then rasped a 25-yard shot just wide of the bottom right corner after brilliantly beating two home players.
Main eventually levelled midway through the second half when he smashed home from ten yards out after Cameron Dummigan crossed from the right.
Winnall hit the post for the second time when he was ruled onside after Williams' dink over the Oldham defence left him totally free but goalkeeper Joel Coleman tipped his close-range shot onto the post.
Winnall did get another goal from the penalty spot with six minutes left. After a clever free-kick routine, Hammill ran onto Hourihane's pass on the right of the box and was clearly taken out by the sliding Tareiq Holmes-Dennis. A spot-kick was awarded and Winnall made no mistake.
