Barnsley took the lead twice but drew 2-2 against Middlesbrough at Oakwell in a thriller on Saturday.
A frantic first nine minutes saw Barnsley open the scoring – through an apparent own goal by their former player Ashley Fletcher – before the visitors levelled only for Cameron McGeehan to net his first Reds goal.
Britt Assombalonga equalised again early in the second half before both sides had some chances to win it with Harvey Barnes hitting the post late on.
The result took Barnsley on to 12 points from 11 games which leaves them 19th in the table, dropping down a place.
Paul Heckingbottom, who is banned for two games after walking onto Millwall's pitch in the last match, watched the game from the West Stand, not far from where Paul Conway – part of a consortium attempting to buy the club - sat next to owner Patrick Cryne.
Heckingbottom made just one change from the side that won 3-1 at Millwall two weeks ago before the international break. Left-back Zeki Fryers came in for the suspended right-back Jason McCarthy with Matty Pearson moving from the left to the right.
Barnsley took the lead in the second minute when a Fryers corner was headed into the net, after Fletcher and Britt Assombalonga went to meet it along with Tom Bradshaw who was initially credited with goal but did not celebrate very wildly.
The visitors levelled in the seventh minute when Cyrus Christie's throw was flicked on by Daniel Ayala and Danish international Martin Braithwaite fired in with a low shot. But two minutes later McGeehan was totally unmarked to head in a left-wing cross by Brad Potts for his first goal since breaking his leg while playing for Luton Town on January 2.
The first half settled down after that point, with Boro dominating possession but struggling to break down a stubborn home defence. Brazil International Fabio volleyed a corner straight at Adam Davies then Fletcher dragged a low 25-yard shot badly wide. A poor Davies throw almost gifted the visitors an equaliser but Fryers made a fine tackle before Britt Assombalonga fired over.
Fletcher should have levelled three minutes into the second half when a cross from the left was not cleared properly and fell to him six yards out with the goal gaping but his effort was brilliantly blocked by his former Reds colleague Davies. Fletcher then turned another chance wide from close range after a good run and low cross from Christie.
Barnsley almost increased their lead when Pearson flicked a header wide from another good Fryers set piece, this time a free-kick near the corner. But the Reds clearly had to change something as Boro were having 70 per cent off the ball, so Heckingbottom switched from five in midfield to 4-4-2 with Mamadou Thiam replacing central midfielder Potts.
The visitors eventually levelled on the hour-mark when £15million signing Britt Assombalonga produced a fine finish into the bottom left corner after a superb pass from Stewart Downing. Former England international Downing almost put Boro ahead a minute later but his long-range effort was placed away by Davies.
Fabio again shot straight at Davies after an impressive backheel by Assombalonga while, at the other end, Thiam had a superb chance to make it 3-2 when he outmuscled a defender to go clean through but his shot from the left of the box trickle across goal and went wide.
Barnsley then went even closer as Harvey Barnes hit the post from the left of the box after Ben Gibson tackled Bradshaw on the edge of the box but the referee decided he had got the ball.
Thiam then fired straight at the goalkeeper from 25 yards out when he could have passed to well-placed team-mates in better positions. The Frenchman then had another shot from a similar distance which Darren Randolph had to get down to his right to catch.
