It wasn't a good Friday for Barnsley this afternoon, losing on the road in Sky Bet League One.
Lowly Burton Albion took all three points in this one, scoring with both of their shots on target whilst the Reds will feel hard done by after seeing a goalbound strike cleared off the line by the hand of a defender inside the opening 13 minutes.
The first 45 began well for the Reds with Michael Duff's side forcing a handful of early corners, all worked short, but the hosts defended their box well.
It was a dominant start by Barnsley and with just over a dozen minutes on the clock, they should have taken a deserved lead through James Norwood.
Our number nine landed on the ball inside the six-yard box and fired towards the bottom left-hand corner, but Brewers captain, John Brayford stuck out his right arm and prevented the shot from going in.
Referee, Adam Herczeg was unmoved, waving away the claims and our long wait for a spot kick was prolonged once more.
The home side then enjoyed a brief period of attacking pressure, with Conor Shaughnessy a danger with his long throws and Harry Isted had to be sharp at his near post to thwart one particular attack.
Duff's men ended the half stronger, with Norwood glancing a header wide and then Devante Cole denied by Craig MacGillivary point blank after the Burton 'keeper had spilled a powerful Luca Connell free-kick.
But the game was goalless heading into the break, with the contentious non-awarding of a Reds penalty the major talking point.
HALF-TIME: Burton Albion 0-0 Barnsley
The contest became a whole lot harder for Duff's side when five minutes into the second period, the Brewers took the lead with their first shot on goal.
Former Middlesbrough winger Mustapha Carayol beat his man down the left before fizzing in a low cross that was turned home at the near post by Burton defender Connor Shaughnessy.
That sparked Barnsley into life and all of Nicky Cadden, Adam Phillips and Cole saw efforts fall wide from in and around the box, before Brewers goalkeeper, MacGillivray performed heroics to push away Mads Andersen's goalbound header.
Duff went to his bench and made four changes, with Josh Benson, Slobodan Tedic, Max Watters and Luke Thomas entering the fray.
The hosts tried to whittle the remaining minutes away, with cheap free-kicks and time-wasting now the tactics for the Brewers.
An acrobatic effort from Benson was parried to safety by MacGillivray before the Burton stopper dove full length to thwart Tedic's powerful strike.
And the task doubled in terms of difficulty when Albion made it 2-0 with just three minutes left to play as Dale Taylor bent in a wonderful strike from 20 yards.
But the Reds kept at it and as we entered the final minute of normal time, Cadden was on-hand to half-volley into the bottom corner from Watters' lay-off.
Barnsley continued to pile on the pressure, with Watters seeing a header tipped behind before in the very last second of added time, MacGillivray capped his player of the match performance with an outstanding one-handed stop on the goalline, having initially dived the wrong way, he got enough on Tedic's goalbound header to confirm all three points for his side.
Tough to take on a frustrating afternoon for Barnsley whose hopes of automatic promotion took a severe dent at the Pirelli Stadium.
FULL-TIME: Burton Albion 2-1 Barnsley
Isted, Williams, B.Thomas, Andersen, Kitching, Cadden, Phillips, Connell (Benson), Kane (L.Thomas), Norwood (Tedic), Cole (Watters).
Unused: Collins, Larkeche, Russell.
