Highlights - Cardiff 2-2 Barnsley

Dekel Keinan scores his first goal since joining Cardiff on loan from Blackpool

Cardiff City squandered the chance to move into the Championship's top two as battling Barnsley twice came from behind to earn the visitors a point.

A Peter Whittingham wonder goal fired the Bluebirds ahead as he volleyed a left-footed 25-yarder past helpless Barnsley keeper Luke Steele.

But Tykes sub Andy Gray equalised as he fired in Marlon Harewood's knock down.

Dekel Keinan seemed to have won it for Cardiff with a bullet header but Gray levelled from Jacob Butterfield's ball.

Gray's double - especially his last-minute equaliser from Butterfield's left-wing cross - punished lacklustre Bluebirds defending and wasteful finishing as the hosts squandered a series of chances.

Cardiff also had a first-half penalty appeal turned down when Craig Bellamy was challenged by covering defender Jason Shackell but referee Russell Booth waved away Cardiff protests.

Bellamy and strike partner Jay Bothroyd wasted chances against the mid-table visitors, while fourth-placed Cardiff wasted the chance to move above Swansea and Norwich into the second automatic promotion spot in Sunday's only Championship game.

The Welsh club looked set to recover from back-to-back defeats when Whittingham unleashed an unstoppable volley to open the scoring in emphatic fashion.

The midfielder, the villain in midweek after missing a penalty in defeat at Crystal Palace, brought down Jay Emmanuel-Thomas's high flick on the right and lashed a left-footed volley beyond the despairing dive of Luke Steele for his seventh goal of the season.

Harewood had a chance to respond almost immediately after being teed up by Jacob Mellis but the striker's shot clipped the outside of the post.

Cardiff then lost striker Michael Chopra to injury as he went down clutching his hamstring after racing onto a Stephen McPhail pass.

And a further blow came four minutes later as a Harewood knock down gave Gray, on for the injured Danny Haynes, the time to control and slot a measured strike into the corner beyond Cardiff keeper Stephen Bywater.

His Barnsley counterpart saved an effort from Bellamy before Bothroyd blazed narrowly wide of Steele's goal from the edge of the box as Cardiff cranked up the pressure.

Bellamy then appeared to be dragged down by Shackell as the Wales striker raced in on goal from a Whittingham pass but Bellamy's appeal was ignored by Booth.

Gray should have doubled his tally just after the break but he could only head at Bywater after a beautiful cross by Matt Hill before Diego Arismendi glanced a header wide from Kieran Trippier's free-kick.

Cardiff responded positively and Steele needed to stick out a leg to block Bothroyd's close-range effort just after the hour mark following good work by substitute Chris Burke.

And the Bluebirds than spurned two clear-cut opportunities as Steele denied Bellamy with a sharp stop from Bothroyd's lay-off before, from the resulting corner, substitute Seyi Olofinjana put the ball wide.

Steele denied Bellamy again as Cardiff laid siege to the Barnsley goal and their resistance was broken when a weighted Burke cross was headed home by Keinan.

The Israeli defender, on loan from Premier League side Blackpool, showed the strikers how to do it as he picked a good time to score his first Cardiff goal.

But the lead lasted just six minutes as Gray stooped to head in Butterfield's superb cross with two minutes to go to extend Cardiff's winless run to three games.

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