Early season leaders Barnsley halted the slide down the table with a welcome 2-0 win over Rushden & Diamonds at Oakwell.
Goals from Kevin Betsy and Dean Gorre were enough to kill off a tame Rushden side.
Under victory, Barnsley’s first in six outings was welcomed by manager Gudjon Thordarson. He said: "I am very pleaded with the win and pleased with the performance." "We have bounced back quite well after recent results and for 90 minutes we were quite solid and created a lot of chances." "I am pleased we are back on track with a clean sheet. There were some good individual performances, but also we performed well as a team." But the result left Rushden boss Brian Talbot disappointed. He said: "It's going to be a long, hard winter - reality has kicked in. For the first time in my Rushden career I think we will be in a relegation battle." "I am very disappointed, we have come so far, now we are in the Second Division and we are finding it difficult, maybe we have come too far. We were too easy to beat." Barnsley could have been in front as early as the second minute when midfielder Steve Hayward came close to an opener with a 30 yard effort that grazed the bar and went over.
And a minute later, Barnsley should have had a penalty when Gorre was chopped down in the area, but the referee waved away the home side's appeals.
But Barnsley went in front with a header from Betsy after 32 minutes from Gorre's cross, to claim his second of the season.
Gorre almost added a second after almost 47 minutes, but keeper Billy Turley finger tipped over his 25 yard free kick.
But in the 56th minute, Gorre claimed his fifth goal of the season when he fired in a superb shot from 18 yards after Betsy picked him out with an accurate pass.