His goal bundled over the line five minutes from the end, made up for a desperate blunder five minutes earlier when his slip let in Michael Mifsud to score his first goal for Barnsley.
The Tykes - in danger of dipping into the drop zone - more than matched Alex McLeish's off-colour promotion hopefuls.
There was a glaring lack of quality as these sides looked to be heading for a desperate stalemate.
Recalled striker Jon Macken set up an early opportunity for the home side when he picked out Daniel Bogdanovic, but when the Malta International played a dangerous ball into the area, he had no support.
City squandered a golden chance soon afterwards when a free-kick from Sebastian Larsson was met by Carlos Costly, but he wasted the opportunity, heading over from close range.
The Blues survived a scare when Bogdanovic crashed a shot after a cross from Rob Kozluk only for Franck Queudrue to make a vital block.
Macken linked superbly with Bodanovic again, but when he cut in another testing cross Mifsud made a mess of his effort from six yards out.
Another chance went begging when Costly fired in an impressive cross, but Lee Carsley forced his shot wide.
City had the ball in the net when Cameron Jerome spun and clipped in the ball after a shot was blocked, but the effort was ruled out for offside.
Early in the second half Barnsley were screaming for a penalty when Macken broke down the left and drilled in a ball for Jamal Campbell-Ryce.
He went down over the out-stretched leg of Martin Taylor, but referee Graham Horwood waived away the protests.
Then came the frantic finish when Martin Taylor's slip allowed the ball through after Adam Hammill crossed and Mifsud stole in to ram home his shot.
However, Martin Taylor made amends five minutes later with the equaliser.