Barnsley 2 – 0 Bristol C

Goals from Carlton Morris and Michal Helik moved resurgent Barnsley to within two points of a position of safety following a 2-0 home win over Bristol City.

The Tykes have now won four of their last eight league games to throw themselves a relegation lifeline, having only tasted victory twice during their first 29 fixtures.

Robins boss and former centre-back Nigel Pearson, meanwhile, will be furious at the nature of his side’s defeat, with both first-half goals conceded from Amine Bassi corners.

Barnsley forged ahead in the 10th minute after a Bassi shot had been deflected wide of visiting goalkeeper Daniel Bentley’s near post by Robbie Cundy.

Bassi then swung in the resulting corner from the left and, after Matty Wolfe headed the ball back into the six-yard box at the far post, Morris reacted smartly to turn in from close range for his eighth goal of the season.

The Robins briefly rallied but Timm Klose headed well wide from a corner by Matty James, who then fired off target himself from 20 yards.

Barnsley subsequently doubled their advantage in the 21st minute when another Bassi dead-ball delivery from the left picked out an unchallenged Helik who grabbed his first goal of the campaign by guiding his header inside the far post from eight yards.

The goal again sparked a temporary riposte from Pearson’s men, as Antoine Semenyo headed wide and went on to flash a low ball across the face of goal to the far post where Andreas Weimann could not direct his shot on target in front of a gaping net.

Morris, though, continued to threaten and had Rob Atkinson in knots on the right byline before creating a chance that saw Claudio Gomes go close with a deflected attempt and a Callum Styles edge-of-the-box effort was also diverted wide following James’ block.

After the interval, Jay Dasilva’s wildly ambitious strike flew well off target for City, while Morris could not beat Bentley from close in after the harassed Atkinson was troubled by Domingos Quina’s positive run.

The home fans then thought a Quina drive had added a third goal for the Reds but it brushed the side-netting instead of rippling the back of the net.

Quina also rifled narrowly wide from an identical position after robbing Weimann of possession.

At the other end, Dasilva’s left-wing centre was headed over from inside the six-yard box by Chris Martin before the former’s curling 12-yard shot called home goalkeeper Brad Collins into his first save of the night in the 70th minute.

Cundy headed over from James’ resulting corner while, for the Tykes, a long-range Liam Kitching effort was initially spilled by Bentley before being safely gathered.

A smart near-post Bentley save denied Remy Vita, while Atkinson could not convert with a far-post header for the away team.

Bassi fired wide moments later, before Semenyo lifted a shot over after raiding through the left channel.

City’s last chance of a reply saw Martin’s header cleared off the line by Kitching.

What the managers said…

Barnsley’s Poya Asbaghi: “This challenge would be my highest achievement, having come to a different country and a new league with just nine or 10 players available in January. But the only thing we have done with these good performances is given ourselves a chance. We haven’t accomplished anything but at least we have some sort of control over our destiny now going into the last games of the season.

“It was the start to the game that we wanted by pushing Bristol back and getting corners, which were decisive in us winning the game and you need to have that threat from set-pieces. Before the game it was our main focus because we knew Bristol City can leave spaces that we could use in a good way and I’m happy that it paid off. We have to keep using set-pieces now because that’s what got us three points from this game. We looked a little bit tired in the second half, but I understand that as we played the toughest opponent possible in Fulham on Saturday and I’m very pleased we were still able to defend a lead.”

Bristol City’s Nigel Pearson: “It’s the same group of players who played at the weekend and did very well, but our inconsistencies came back to haunt us and that remains a problem for us this season. There was no reason why we couldn’t perform in the same sort of way that we did against Blackburn, but the way we started was sloppy.

“We were also wasteful on the ball and were turning the ball over so many times when there was not a lot of pressure on us. It all comes down to concentration. We’ve got eight games to go now and the players have the opportunity to show me what they are made of before we look to make decisions concerning next season’s squad.”