Sheffield Wednesday suffered derby defeat for the second time in four days as they lost 1-0 against Barnsley.
Campbell-Ryce secures local bragging rights
Sheffield Wednesday suffered derby defeat for the second time in four days as they lost 1-0 against Barnsley.
The Owls went down to the same scoreline against Doncaster on Saturday and have seen their play-off aspirations damaged as a result.
Jamal Campbell-Ryce's solitary strike was enough to see Barnsley take the points, allowing the Tykes to pull clear of the drop zone.
The Jamaica international showed why a clutch of Premier League clubs are monitoring his enigmatic talents with a stunning 38th-minute strike after dancing in from the wing.
Campbell-Ryce's fine finish secured the Tykes their first win at Hillsborough since 1979 and saw Simon Davey's band of foreign imports complete a rare league double over Wednesday, who went down 2-1 at Oakwell in October.
But it took an equally stunning goal-line clearance from Tykes defender Bobby Hassell to deny Marcus Tudgay in the 87th minute and to end Barnsley's dreadful run of league form.
It was the Tykes' first win in the Championship since Boxing Day with four successive league defeats seeing them slip to within two points of the bottom three.
Wednesday were on top of the world 10 days ago when securing a first league double over Sheffield United in 95 years.
But it just was not meant to be for the Owls and it appears to be a case of back to the drawing board after the feel-good factor engendered by the recent arrival of new chairman Lee Strafford.
The Owls wasted three free-kicks on the edge of the penalty area inside the first eight minutes on Tuesday, but failed to threaten again up until the half-hour mark.
Erupted
Barnsley fared no better, but looked the more hungry side for long periods of a disappointing local derby.
But the Tykes fans in the Leppings Lane end erupted in the 38th minute when Campbell-Ryce struck a bolt from the blue.
The former Southend winger raced on to Daniel Bogdanovic's fine pass on the edge of the area, bamboozled Owls midfielder James O'Connor and slammed an angled drive, left-footed, into the top corner.
The second half was equally drab, with the first shot by either side, from Owls midfielder Darren Potter after an hour, bobbling tamely wide.
Wednesday manager Brian Laws sent on Francis Jeffers, back from a three-game ban, in place of on-loan midfielder Michael Gray with 29 minutes remaining.
Jeffers' arrival lifted Wednesday, but when skipper Richard Wood appeared set to bundle home the equaliser, Jermaine Johnson's bouncing cross wrong-footed the big defender.
Owls winger Johnson then tested Tykes goalkeeper Heinz Muller at last with an angled drive and Barnsley responded by replacing the fading Bogdanovic with Jon Macken.
Wednesday substitute Wade Small appeared for Johnson in the 70th minute, but despite frantic attempts to launch a sustained attack the home side made little headway against determined opposition.
Wade Small blazed over, while Michael Mifsud was foiled by Owls goalkeeper Lee Grant and after Hassell had acrobatically kept out Tudgay's chip over goalkeeper Heinz, the Tykes held on for a much-needed win.
