Barnsley boss Conor Hourihane on whether Reds could be dragged into late-season relegation fight in League One

The Reds' winless sequence extended to six matches after an insipid showing against the visitors.

Owen Oseni scored twice for play-off candidates Argyle, with Lorent Tolaj also netting on a day when Barnsley made unwanted history by extending their run without a clean sheet to a record 25 matches.

Argyle's Devon rivals Exeter City, who currently occupy the final place in the bottom four, breathed new life into their survival quest with a 3-0 victory over Doncaster Rovers.

The Grecians are five points behind Barnsley, although they have played three matches more.

While the odds on the Reds being involved in a battle to retain their third-tier status are long, they are certainly by no means safe yet and on Monday's performance, it is hard to see where their next win is coming from.

On the Reds not yet being safe, Hourihane said: "I mentioned that to the players. We are fortunate that we've got games in hand. We're five points off it, we've got three games in hand (on Exeter).

"So from that point of view, three or four points is going to make us relatively okay.

"But we still need to go about our business in the right way to get those points.

"But we are very aware of it.

"There's no shying away from it. We need to go about our business in the right way, starting against Rotherham, starting this week.

"We've got seven games to go and we need a couple of wins, no doubt, and we're fully aware of that, to make ourselves comfortable.

"Because, there's no doubt that people will be looking a little bit behind us as well.

"When we beat Exeter here at home, I didn't envisage us going on this run at all. We were in a decent place. We were pushing in the right direction."

Barnsley’s players were booed following the final whistle when they applauded the hardy supporters who stayed to the bitter end.

On his reaction to that, Hourihane added: “Of course, I can understand it.

"I can really, really understand it, but we need them to stick with us until the end of the season and then regroup and rally together over the course of the summer.

"We really need them now until the end of the season to see the season out as strong as we can. I know at the minute they'll be hurting, I'm hurting, the players are hurting, and we need to stick together with seven games to go until the summer.

"Of course, it's so important to take some positivity into the summer as well and try and finish a campaign as strongly as you can.

“We've got seven games to go. We need to try and get a bit of energy going until the summer and then obviously when you go into the summer, then you've got something to build on.”

On the performance, he added: “It looks like a hammering, but I think it was a little bit closer than that.”