Sheffield Wednesday might be destined to join the Championship rich list, but they failed to cash in their chances over their near neighbours.
Hillsborough manager Brian Laws has had to brush aside speculation about his future with the rumoured imminent £50million takeover of the club by a foreign consortium.
Under financial rules, the Stock Market has already been warned the an official takeover bid could be made shortly, with the talk being that new owners could have their own manager already lined up.
But even a huge injection of cash will hardly help Wednesday this season if they fail to drag themselves out of trouble.
In a game short on quality and scoring chances, Wednesday had the edge but failed to break down dogged Barnsley just a week away from hosting mighty Chelsea in the FA Cup sixth round clash.
After surviving early pressure from the home side, it was Wednesday who went close to grabbing the lead when Graham Kavanagh's free-kick into the area bounced wickedly and was held up by the wind before almost dropping over keeper Luke Steele.
But the youngster, on loan from West Brom and hero of the Tykes' cup win over Liverpool, managed to stretch and finger-tip over.
A carbon copy free-kick from Kavangh was drilled into the area for a Richard Hinds header and, after Steele parried, Richard Wood headed over from point-blank range.
Steele had to dive full-stretch to his left when Hinds hit a blistering shot on the run but it was just wide.
The keeper had to be alert again when Marcus Tudgay back-heeled for Burton O'Brien to shoot goalwards.
Barnsley's best early chance came when Rob Kozluk drifted in a free-kick on the strong breeze and Jon Macken controlled superbly on his chest before spinning cleverly but firing his shot wide.
And late on the home side's first effort on target came when Lee Grant held onto a Stephen Foster header.
In the dying seconds, O'Brien hit the post for Wednesday and Barnsley's Kozluk was sent off for a second bookable offence.