Promotion-chasing Barnsley failed to capitalise on their dominance as they were held to a 0-0 draw at home to relegation-battling Cheltenham in League One.

The Tykes slipped seven points off the automatic promotion places and – with the four teams above them all playing each other – missed the chance to move up to fourth.

Cheltenham remain in the bottom four and are without a win in six, but the draw edged them to within five points of safety.

Jon Russell thought he had put the hosts ahead after four minutes when he turned home Luca Connell’s free-kick, but the assistant referee had raised his flag for offside.

The Tykes countered dangerously in the 31st minute as Adam Phillips slotted through to Sam Cosgrove, but his low effort from the edge of the box was always curling wide.

Cheltenham almost took the lead against the run of play in the 34th minute when Tom Pett curled one towards the bottom right corner from the edge of the box and prompted a smart save from Liam Roberts.

Russell should have broken the deadlock four minutes after the break when he was found at the back post by Cosgrove but dinked his close-range effort over the crossbar.

Barnsley substitute Devante Cole had an opportunity to make it 1-0 with eight minutes to play when a smart cross from Phillips gave the forward a free header inside the box, but he nodded wide.

Wycombe boss Matt Bloomfield blamed his side’s ill-discipline for their 4-2 loss to promotion-chasers Barnsley.

The Chairboys twice let a lead slip before substitute David Wheeler was sent off as the Reds completed a resounding comeback.

Dale Taylor and Kieran Sadlier twice put Wycombe ahead, only for Sam Cosgrove and Donovan Pines to respond each time before Corey O’Keeffe and Conor Grant secured the victory.

“Where was it lost? Slight lack of discipline, I think,” Bloomfield said. “There were a couple of soft goals that were entirely preventable from our side, so that feeds into it, and obviously the sending-off doesn’t help.

“I still fancied us at 3-2 down, but obviously with 10 men it’s tough.

“A few things contributed, maybe a slight bit of fatigue crept in with some of our decision-making at times defensively.

“I thought we started the game extremely well. For 30-35 minutes to play like we did against a team that’s looking to try and get up automatically, we have to be pleased with that, but we’re not pleased because we want to win the game.”

Taylor’s 16th-minute opener was cancelled out by an equaliser in first-half stoppage time from Cosgrove, who netted the rebound from a Luca Connell free-kick.

Sadlier then tapped home after good build-up play from Garath McCleary to restore the hosts’ lead, but only for four minutes.

Pines bundled the ball home before O’Keeffe put Barnsley into the lead for the first time with 65 minutes gone.

Wheeler saw red less than a minute after coming on for a heavy tackle on O’Keeffe and the Tykes made certain of their win with a thumping effort from Grant.

Barnsley boss Neill Collins said: “The resilience they’ve shown after going behind and then going behind again, to come back was fantastic.

“The quality of our play when we put it together caused Wycombe real problems. We created some really good moments and the quality of a couple of our goals was excellent.

“So I think overall, coming away from home against a team that’s made it really difficult for teams at home recently is all positive.

“I think we were the victims of our downfall with respect to the two goals we gave away and then when we did go 4-2 in the lead we contrived to give up two or three chances just from poor choices.

“But in the end we regrouped and saw it out pretty comfortably. There’s more positives than negatives of course.”

Barnsley won for the third game in a row as they beat 10-man Wycombe 4-2 at Adams Park.

Dale Taylor had put the Chairboys ahead before Sam Cosgrove equalised for the visitors.

Kieran Sadlier restored Wycombe’s lead, only for goals from Donovan Pines and Corey O’Keeffe to turn the game in Barnsley’s favour.

The hosts then saw David Wheeler sent off seconds after coming on, with Conor Grant thumping in a fourth.

Wycombe struck first when Taylor reacted quickest to a half-cleared cross and placed a first-time strike into Liam Roberts’ net.

But the visitors equalised in first-half stoppage time when Cosgrove scored the rebound after Luca Connell’s free-kick hit the crossbar.

Wycombe regained the lead just after half-time as Garath McCleary slid the ball back for Sadlier to tap home.

But the lead was brief as Pines bundled in a corner to equalise and the visitors then went ahead when O’Keeffe turned in a deflected cross.

Wheeler was sent off for a heavy tackle on O’Keeffe before substitute Grant slammed the ball home to complete the scoring.

Charlie Adam could not hide his frustration after Fleetwood impressed against Barnsley but fell to a 2-1 defeat.

Barnsley led through Sam Cosgrove’s header before Bosun Lawal pegged them back with a brilliant goal from distance.

Having wasted chances when dominating the first half, Fleetwood were then undone by Herbie Kane’s winner just before the hour mark.

Adam was left to rue those early missed opportunities, with his second-bottom side seven points from safety.

“We were the better team in the first half and the opportunities that we had were big chances,” he said.

“I think we should have had a penalty as well, that was a big call in a big moment, that would have got us back to 1-1, then we got our goal with a wonderful strike and it’s a huge disappointment but the effort that the lads put in was incredible.

“It’s frustrating but I think if you look at what we produced our performance was very good in terms of what we tried to do. Our game plan was working but we got caught with two opportunities against us that we feel could have been avoided.

“But I can’t fault my lads, they are giving everything and that performance against one of the top teams in the league should be a moment for them to grasp where we are and what we’re trying to do.

“Small margins win you games and small margins lose you games too. They’ve given us that performance against one of the best teams in the league who are in great form and have lost once away from home all season so we knew it was going to be a difficult game.”

Barnsley boss Neill Collins said the three points from another successful away day were hard earned and showed his players’ character.

“I’ve just said to the players the only thing that matters on days like today is the three points,” he said.

“I can’t be too judgemental about any performances, although the performance was good, especially in the last 30 minutes, but when you come to these places it might not be conducive to playing any type of football.

“The wind and rain was a real leveller, and I thought Fleetwood asked a lot of questions of us and our players stood up to it, so we move on thinking this was a big three points.

“They’ve shown character throughout this season, I think character is a great word for the group, I think they’ve got a lot of quality and energy but to have that character is going to stand us in really good stead.

“I thought their best chances came earlier in the game and we felt pretty comfortable in the second half. Every game’s tough away from home, especially playing against relegation teams because it’s make or break for them.

“I thought Fleetwood were so up for it and if we’d have been anything less than we were we could have been blown away but we weren’t. They’ve stepped up to every challenge really well.”

Herbie Kane hit the winner for promotion-chasing Barnsley as they beat second-bottom Fleetwood 2-1.

The Tykes had led through Sam Cosgrove’s header midway through the first half, but Bosun Lawal brought the relegation-battling Cod Army level with a stunning long-range strike.

Barnsley, League One’s best travellers with just one away defeat all season, won via Kane’s goal on the hour mark.

Cosgrove had sent a perfectly-placed header from Adam Phillips’ cross inside the far post to give the visitors the lead.

But with just over half an hour played, Lawal let fly with a rocket that beat Liam Roberts’ despairing dive and found the top corner.

Fleetwood had deserved to go in level at the break as, once they had fallen behind, Promise Omochere headed wide from close range and a towering header by Ben Heneghan was brilliantly tipped over by Roberts.

In the second half a chance at either end went begging, Ronan Coughlan denied by Roberts and Nicky Cadden shooting wide for Barnsley.

Kane restored the lead in the 59th minute, slotting into the bottom corner from another Phillips pass.

Fleetwood forward Coughlan was thwarted by Mael de Gevigney’s tackle and at the other end Phillips saw a fierce shot palmed away by Jay Lynch.

Home midfielder Gavin Kilkenny sent a powerful strike inches over in stoppage time, and the visitors managed to see out the victory.

Neill Collins acknowledged the bizarre nature of his Barnsley side’s late winner after Sam Cosgrove snatched a 1-0 victory for the Tykes in second-half stoppage-time.

Cosgrove capitalised on a costly mistake from Wycombe goalkeeper Max Stryjek to net his first goal for the Reds.

Wycombe player Harry Boyes was shown a second yellow for dissent amidst protests following the goal.

Collins said: “I’ve just watched it (the incident) back there. Make of it what you want; for me the contact is nowhere near enough to go down. The keeper drops the ball, if he holds onto the ball we’re not even talking about it.

“He certainly doesn’t drop the ball because of Sam (Cosgrove)’s contact. He drops the ball because he falls to the floor and Sam finishes it off like a good striker should.

“I don’t want the bizarre circumstances of the goal to take away from the fact that we deservedly won three points. We did everything but put the ball in the net in the second half and eventually got the reward.”

On the performance of Cosgrove, Collins said: “That’s two games in a row now that Sam has come on and really given us the impetus to just raise our levels and he’ll probably have a couple of opportunities he’d like back, but again he definitely helped the momentum come in our favour.

“I think Sam would be the first to admit that the first month or two wasn’t his best. He was carrying a couple of niggly injuries.

“I’ve seen a distinct change the last couple of weeks and I see a player that’s going to really help us push on.”

Wycombe manager Matt Bloomfield said: “We’ve conceded a goal tonight that I’ve never seen in my time in football; the circumstances surrounding it.

“Our players put so much into that performance coming off the back of a disappointing result at the weekend. It actually looked like it was going to be us that was going to go and nick it at the end.

“We rode a storm midway through the second half, but we made some changes and it looked like it might be us that would come away with three points.”

On the dismissal of Boyes, Bloomfield said: “I couldn’t go and speak (to the referee) at the full-time whistle. I thought the most important thing at that point was to go applaud our supporters who make their way all the up here on a Tuesday night.

“We’ve seen it a multitude of times where strikers run into goalkeepers, that’s usually what happens and it’s usually given as a foul.

“To finish the game like that is really disappointing.”