Barnsley got things underway and in the opening seconds Paul Rachubka was forced to come racing of his line to take the ball off the feet of Jonathan Macken, but it was to be the Tangerines who enjoyed the majority of the early play.
A Wes Hoolahan mazy run and through ball to Andy Morrell earned Pool their first corner on four minutes, the quickly taken resulting set play saw Hoolahan and Fox combine and force Muller to punch clear.
Muller was forced to dive to his right to collect a Gary Taylor Fletcher daisy cutter on seven minutes as Pool continued to enjoy the better of the opening exchanges.
Pool's second corner of the game on 12 minutes almost saw the Seasiders open the scoring when Gary Taylor Fletcher was allowed the freedom of Oakwell to head David Fox's corner towards goal, but the winger was denied by a fine save from Muller.
Pool's early dominance was beginning to frustrate the Barnsley faithful and more jeers could be heard on the quarter hour when Keigan Parker fired across the face of goal after a swift counter attack involving Wes Hoolahan, Keith Southern and Andy Morrell who threaded a great ball to his strike partner.
Three minutes later Barnsley felt they should have been awarded a penalty when Jamal Campbell-Ryce saw his rasping shot rebound off Keith Southern who typically threw himself in the way of the strike.
Having waved away the protests Paul Taylor gave the hosts a penalty the referee then awarded Barnsley a penalty after Shaun Barker and Sam Togwell appeared to collide on the edge of the area, the referee pointed to the spot and BRIAN HOWARD stepped up and fired into Paul Rachubka's bottom left hand corner beyond the despairing grasp of the Pool stopper. Video replays later confirmed the infringement if there was one occurred outside the area.
The goal gave Barnsley a lift and within a minute of the restart The Tykes forced four consecutive corners fortunately for Pool the defence stood firm and Pool cleared the danger.
A curling David Fox free kick on 28 minutes saw Souza turn behind, but Pool failed to capitalise and Barnsley countered through Jamal Campbell-Ryce.
The half hour mark saw Kaspars Gorkss bullet header whistle just wide after the Latvian international got on the end of a David Fox cross.
Pool forced another corner on 33 minutes, this time Michael Jackson's glancing header caused the home side defence problem and eventually the ball fell to Keigan Parker, who, according to a Barnsley supporting commentator "blazed into the top tier of the stand behind the goal". For those who have never been to Oakwell, the stands behind the goal have just one tier!
Michael Jackson became the first name in the referees' notebook when his late challenge left Barnsley skipper Brian Howard needing treatment.
Half Time Barnsley 1 Blackpool 0
Pool once again started brightly both Andy Morrell and Keigan Parker brought saves out of Muller.
After just six minutes of the second half Pool found themselves down to ten men when skipper Michael Jackson was sent off following a second yellow card which was shown following a late challenge onFerenczi, TV replays showed the Pool defender could have quite easily been shown a straight red following his late challenge.
Pool made their first change of the evening when John Hills replaced Andy Morrell, the change saw Pool to a 4-2-3 formation with Taylor-Fletcher and Hoolahan being asked to give Keigan Parker support up top.
Despite being in arrears Pool continued to be patient in their play and on the hour Keigan Parker forced the keeper to flick over following a sweet strike from the edge of the area.
Midway through the second half referee Paul Taylor had a chance to redeem himself for the dubious penalty he awarded in the first half when Wes Hoolahan's surging run was brought to an end by keeper Heinz Muller
Pool made their second change of the evening on 69 minutes when Claus Jorgensen replaced David Fox who appeared to be struggling with injury.
Seconds later Pool found themselves two down after ISTVAN FERENCZI headed home a free kick from the Pool left.
Pool reduced the arrears on 72 minutes when KEITH SOUTHERN reacted the quickest to stab home after the Barnsley defence failed to clear a right wing corner.
With ten minutes remaining Pool made their final change of the night when Gary Taylor Fletcher made for Scott Vernon
In the first minute of stoppage time Scott Vernon was denied by a fine save after the substitute rose to head goalwards.
POOL: Rachubka, Barker, Jackson, Gorkss, Coid, Taylor-Fletcher (Vernon 80), Fox (Jorgensen 69), Southern, Hoolahan, Morrell (Hills 55) Parker Subs Not Used: Welsh, Flynn
BARNSLEY: Muller, Foster, Souza, Nyatanga, Kozluk, Campbell-Ryce (McCann 65), Howard, Togwell, Devaney (Ricketts 73), Ferenczi, Macken (Odejayi 90) Subs Not Used: Reid, Mostto,
