Andy Gray, a Barnsley substitute, dented Cardiff City’s automatic promotion hopes with an equaliser in the last minute.
Dave Jones’s faltering side looked set to regain second place when Dekel Keinan, the Israel defender, scored his first goal for the club in the 83rd minute.
But Gray, who had also cancelled out Peter Whittingham’s stunning opener and was only on the pitch because Danny Haynes had limped off with a hamstring injury after 12 minutes, gave Barnsley a share of the spoils.
Jacob Butterfield had just replaced the tiring Matt Hill and with his first touch the midfield player crossed for Gray to head past Stephen Bywater in the Cardiff goal.
Jones, the Cardiff manager, held an hour-long dressing-room inquest with his players after watching his players squander the chance to leapfrog their arch rivals, Swansea City, and into an automatic promotion place.
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“We spoke about the things we didn’t do right because the game is still fresh in our minds,” he said. “Their second goal was down to a lack of concentration.
“We had got our noses in front twice but we didn’t see the game out. There were no recriminations. We needed to have a chat because what happened during the game was still clear. We looked nervous and that’s why we didn’t play well. You could feel the nerves all around the stadium today. If players are nervous then they’ve got to get over them.
“We’re still within shouting distance of the top two and there’s still a lot of football to be played, but we’ve got to do better. We’ve only taken one point from the last three games and that’s not good enough.”
Mark Robins, the Barnsley manager, claimed that his side deserved to leave South Wales with a share of the spoils.
“We showed character and resilience to come back twice so a point was the least we deserved,” he said. “If we had more belief, we could have won.
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“Jacob [Butterfield] has been an impact player for us this season and he certainly made an impact today. He’s got great ability and it was a great ball into the box for Andy.
“I thought Andy was fantastic. He’s had to be patient this season , but you could see his quality with the goals.”
Whittingham broke the deadlock in stunning fashion in the 21st minute. The Cardiff midfield player collected Jay Emmanuel-Thomas’s pass, flicked the ball up and beat Luke Steele with an unstoppable 25-yard volley.
Barnsley almost hit back within two minutes, Marlon Harewood hitting a post after being set up by Jacob Mellis.
Gray hauled the visiting team level with an inch-perfect strike just before the half-hour mark.
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Harewood, who is on loan from Blackpool, laid the ball off to his strike partner Gray, who beat Bywater with a right-foot shot from 18 yards.
Steele made two fine saves in the space of four minutes to deny Jay Bothroyd and Craig Bellamy midway through the second half.
Keinan, a January signing from Blackpool, thought he had secured a vital win for Cardiff when he planted Chris Burke’s cross home, but Gray had the last word.
Cardiff City (4-4-2): S Bywater — P Quinn, M Hudson, D Keinan, K McNaughton — J Emmanuel-Thomas (sub: S Olofinjana, 59min), P Whittingham, S McPhail, C Bellamy — J Bothroyd (sub: J Parkin, 73), M Chopra (sub: C Burke, 25). Substitutes not used: J Brown, G Rae, G Gyepes, D Blake. Booked: Bellamy.
Barnsley (4-4-2): L Steele — M Hill (sub: J Butterfield, 88), P McShane, J Shackell, J McEveley — K Trippier, N Doyle, D Arismendi, J Mellis (sub: J O’Brien, 63) — M Harewood, D Haynes (sub: A Gray, 12). Substitutes not used: D Preece, G Lovre, M Devaney, S Bennett. Booked: Arismendi, McShane.
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Referee: R Booth. Attendance: 23,056