Andy Gray's eighth goal of an increasingly productive campaign looked to have ended Burnley's Barnsley hoodoo.
But Gray's fortuitous first half strike was cancelled out after the break as the Tykes hit back to earn a share of the spoils and deny the Clarets their first Oakwell victory for 75 years.
There was no Robbie Blake for Burnley - the striker being left out so as to not aggrevate a niggling hamstring injury first sustained at Cardiff.
That meant Ade Akinbiyi started up front alongside leading hitman Gray, while Kyle Lafferty, as expected, started on the bench following his midweek exploits for Northern Ireland.
But there was to be no hangover from the international break for the Clarets, who dominated the first half and should definitely have been more than a goal to the good.
Gray twice came close to adding to his tally, while Clarke Carlisle was a whisker away with a header and Wade Elliott flashed a shot inches wide.
The Clarets survived early appeals for a penalty before grabbing the all-important breakthrough in the 11th minute.
Steven Caldwell's inch perfect tackle denied and within 60 seconds Gray had pounced.
The Scottish striker started the move by feeding Elliott on the right and when the cross came in Lewis Nyatanga's attempted clearance cannoned off the striker and flashed past helpless goalkeeper Heinz Muller.
The celebrations start after Gray's early strike
But there as nothing fortuitous about the Clarets superiority as the half wore on.
Elliott's 25-yard snapshot was the width of a post away and the lively Clarets winger then curled a shot from the corner of the box just over the angle.
Some slick passing was constantly carving the Tykes apart and soon Gray saw his shot on the turn from Alan Mahon's corner cleared off the line.
The two then combined again from a free kick and this time Gray's flick header was expertly turned around the post by Muller.
Nothing had been seen of Barnsley's attack until the 37th minute, when Dominik Werling's long-range howitzer was straight at Gabor Kiraly.
And the Hungarian was again perfectly placed two minutes later when Miguel Mossto's free kick from the edge of the box forced a fine save.
Carlisle perhaps should have doubled the Clarets lead just before the interval as he rose unmarked to meet Mahon's corner, but headed just over.
However, the former Watford defender redeemed himself instantly.
After committing a petty foul on the edge of his own area, his instinctive reactions from Grant McCann's free kick saw the ball ricochet across goal and just wide of the post with KIraly stranded in no-man's land.
HT: Barnsley 0 Burnley 1
Kiraly protected the slender lead five minutes after the restart with a flying save to turn aside Mossto's wicked curler.
And as the home side upped the tempo, Mahon's dipping volley was just too high during an increasingly rare raid into enemy territory.
Kiraly was being well protected by his defence, who were holding firm in the face of the hosts' second half response.
However, Barnsley finally broke down Burnley's resistance 19 minutes from time.
Lafferty had just replaced Mahon to a rousing ovation from the 1,583 visiting fans before Howard swung across a left wing corner.
Welsh defender Nyatanga met it at the near post with a flying header that smacked the face of the crossbar, but Mossto picked up the pieces to head the leveller from a couple of yards.
Burnley: Kiraly, Jordan, Caldwell, Carlisle, Alexander, Elliott, Mahon (Lafferty 70), C McCann, Spicer, Gray, Akinbiyi (Jones 85)
Subs: J O'Connor, Jensen, Unsworth
Booked: Caldwell 65
Barnsley: Muller, Werling, Souza G McCann, Mostto, Devaney, Campbell-Ryce (Ricketts 85), Odejayi, Foster, Nyatanga, Howard.
Subs: Colgan, Coulson, Kozluk, Togwell,.
Ref: L Probert
Att: 11,560
