This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk‘ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Barnsley have been on a real run of good form lately and their hopes of escaping the drop zone have vastly increased as their results have picked up.

After spending months looking doomed to fall back down to League One, the Tykes have managed to string some points together and slowly climb their way up from 24th.

After a surprise victory over QPR, they went on to beat off fellow strugglers Hull and then even claimed a huge 3-2 result over Middlesbrough.

With the three points beginning to stack up, Poya Asbaghi's side leapt up in the standings. A bad loss to Derby sent them crashing back down to Earth but they were hopeful of a solid result against Stoke. They'll have been even more delighted when Dom Quina put them ahead with just 20 minutes to go in the game.

However, their hopes were dashed when Lewis Baker bagged an equaliser at the death and they ended up having to go home with one point. That many Tykes fans are disappointed to have only claimed a draw against Stoke shows how far they have come though in a short space of time.

The games are running out though and they'll need to start getting as many points as they possibly can. In that respect, the response is understandable.

Football League World's Barnsley fan pundit Joe Beardsall is equally as frustrated with the draw against the Potters, claiming he is 'devastated' to have only come away with a point. After a solid second half showing, it's certainly a blow for the supporters to see their side only manage a stalemate against Stoke.

There are still games to be won and lost but they'll be hoping they don't look back on this fixture as the one where it got away from them.

Speaking about the result, FLW's Barnsley fan pundit Joe said: "I'm devastated, disheartened, frustrated and feeling really upset about what is happening at the minute. We could have won. Did we deserve to win? That's debatable.

"It was a poor first half, Stoke probably had the better of the chances in that half and it was just a game that was basically two amazing goals from both teams, a goal apiece, but apart from that it was a pretty dull game. We did run our blood to water in the second half, most of the Barnsley players tried their best to get those three points so it is just devastating to concede in the 95th minute.

"If we win that game, it puts massive pressure on Reading, three points difference, goal difference about the same and you're thinking 'we are really there now.' We're continuing to just breathe down their necks but to concede in the 95th minute, it's the sort of think that can be the difference between staying up and going down because it can just change all the mentality.

You win that, you go into the next game full of confidence and thinking 'yep, come on,' we've got some upwards momentum but we concede in the 95th minute and we've got Fulham on Saturday. It's gonna be a massive task. So yes, very very upset that we conceded that but if we do go down this season, it won't be because we conceded a 95th minute equaliser against Stoke, it'll be because we haven't been good enough over the course of 46 games."

The Verdict

Barnsley have certainly picked up in terms of their performances recently and they look a side that could, arguably, end up staying in the Championship come the end of the campaign.

The damage though may already have been done. Reading look the most realistic team that they can catch up on and with Derby also trying to pull away from the drop zone, it won't be easy for the Tykes to clamber out of the bottom three and stay up now.

If they get as many points from now until the end of the season, it is certainly a possibility that they survive. A draw against Stoke certainly isn't a bad result, especially considering where the Potters are in the league but with the three points so nearly in their grasp, it has been a tough one to swallow.

They'll just have to pick themselves up and try and go again at the weekend. Whilst the clash against Fulham next will be a very difficult one, everyone knows that anything can happen in the Championship.