Two goals from Sam Dalby and a third from John McAtee looked to have set Steven Schumacher’s side on their way to a straightforward fourth victory on the spin.
But goals from Luca Connell and Adam Phillips put an entirely unexpected note of jeopardy into the game and the final stages were as nervous as any game has been for some time.
Wanderers named an unchanged side from the one that had won at Wimbledon and there was no place in the squad for Josh Sheehan or Johnny Kenny, who had both returned to training after a calf injury.
Barnsley very nearly snatched the lead after just 22 seconds as winger Scott Banks curled a shot at goal which was pushed away by Jack Bonham. But the South Yorkshiremen got nowhere near the Bolton goal again in a first half which saw 19 shots at goal from the Whites, with eight on target.
The party was started by Dalby, who got above his markers in a crowded six yard box to head home Kyle Dempsey’s corner just five minutes in.
Corey Blackett-Taylor was then denied by Owen Goodman just seconds after the restart, McAtee also firing a powerful effort just over the bar after Rob Apter saw another shot blocked on the edge of the box.
Wanderers threatened from every set piece, Eoin Toal causing a nuisance and twice heading just over the bar.
McAtee was getting closer, and after doing well to beat Eoghan O’Connell at the far post, he then saw another shot blocked from point blank range in front of the goal.
Dalby grabbed his second with another piece of far-post opportunism when Barnsley failed to clear Dempsey’s corner. Moments later, Dempsey found Osei-Tutu with a glorious cross-field pass and the full-back’s inviting cross missed McAtee and Dalby by millimetres.
McAtee was not to be denied, however, and on 32 minutes he scored the third goal of the game with a tidy finish after Dalby’s great turn on the edge of the box and unselfish cross.
Still the chances flowed for Bolton – Apter, Blackett-Taylor and George Johnston all going close before the break, and the final act of the first half was another Toal header that skimmed the bar.
Barnsley made four changes at the break to try and change the flow of the game – and it did happen eventually, but not before Dalby drove a shot into the side-netting and referee Scott Oldham turned down a big penalty shout for handball after Johnston’s close-range shot.
Whites old boy Connell signalled the comeback with a deflected shot and a few minutes later Phillips smashed a shot into the roof of the net to inject some hope into an away end that had started to empty after half an hour.
Bolton were wobbling – something you could hardly have contemplated at half time – and desperately needed a fourth goal to restabilise them.
Sub Cyrus Christie went close with a shot pushed wide by Goodman but the procession of chances they had created earlier slowed to a crawl. Barnsley, by contrast, were looking dangerous and another former Bolton man, Nat Ogbeta, forced Bonham into a smart save with a header from close in.
McAtee had a goal-bound effort blocked in front of goal with five minutes left on the clock and moments earlier referee Oldham and his assistant seemed to have missed a blatant handball from Goodman on the edge of the box as he collected a bouncing ball over the top.
Wanderers had to hold firm at the end under a barrage of long throws and crosses into the box but they kept possession of the points, and will go to Lincoln next weekend looking for a fifth straight league win.