Barnsley 3 Walsall 0 - Report and pictures
A George Waring double helped condemn sloppy Walsall to defeat at Barnsley.
The on-loan Stoke City striker opened the scoring when he pounced on hesitant defending to head home a corner.
And he then made the game safe for the Tykes in the second half before Sam Winnall added the third late on.
Jordy Hiwula missed Walsall's only clear cut chance of the match when he lobbed wide.
Dean Smith's men otherwise failed to cause home keeper Adam Davies any concerns as they didn't register a shot on target.
Despite the defeat, they remain just six points adrift of League One's top six but with a record of just one win in six, an assault on the play-offs is looking increasingly unlikely.
Walsall's team was unchanged from the one which defeated Yeovil 1-0 on Tuesday night with the big news on the bench.
Sam Mantom featured for the first time in almost four months following his long injury lay-off. It would prove one of the afternoon's few positives.
Milan Lalkovic, who scored six goals in 42 appearances for the Saddlers last season, was named in a Barnsley line-up also unchanged.
The Slovakian created the first real chance of the game for Conor Hourihane with a clever first-time pass over the top but the latter could only fire his left-footed shot straight at Richard O'Donnell.
It was the Saddlers goalkeeper who was the hero at Yeovil on Tuesday but he and his team-mates will have been frustrated at the manner of the first goal.
It gave the hosts the lead on the quarter hour mark, as Waring was allowed to steal in and glance home Hourihane's corner at the near post.
The striker came close to a second soon after with a volley stabbed wide of the near post after he met Josh Scowen's cross.
Hourihane also fired a shot off target from distance in an otherwise disappointing first half display.
Indeed, the biggest excitement in their limited attacking forays came when Hiwula went down under the challenge of Mason Holgate when trying to reach an Adam Chambers cross.
ut referee Stuart Attwell saw no foul and waved play on.
Smith made a double change at the break with Ashley Grimes and James O'Connor replacing Ben Purkiss and James Baxendale.
And though John O'Sullivan shot wide for the hosts in the opening seconds, the Saddlers briefly looked more cohesive in attack with both Grimes and Tom Bradshaw close to playing in Hiwula.
The on-loan Manchester City star's chance finally arrived on the hour mark when he did go through but his lofted finish landed the wrong side of the post.
Waring was then close to giving Barnsley breathing space as he again stole in ahead of O'Donnell at a free-kick, only this time his header drifted wide of the post.
But he made no mistake 19 minutes from time when he showed no little skill to cut in from the left and drive a low shot past O'Donnell and into the far corner, to put the Tykes out of sight.
O'Sullivan was inches from delivering a third soon after with a shot that cleared the bar by inches.
The wideman had another shot well saved by the visiting keeper before Winnall heaped more misery with a minute remaining when he neatly swept home an O'Sullivan pull back.
