Barnsley produced a brave performance against Premier League champions Liverpool but were beaten 4-1 in the FA Cup third round on Monday evening.
The hosts – having seen their post struck in the first minute – went 2-0 up in the first half but Adam Phillips replied just before the break.
Liverpool secured the win late on after the visitors had a big penalty appeal turned down.
It was an encouraging display by the Reds who can take plenty of positives into their League One campaign.
Josh Earl missed out on playing his boyhood club due to a late injury while Patrick Kelly was on the bench having been injured. Corey O’Keeffe made his second debut after returning from loan as the visitors played a 5-3-2 system.
Liverpool played a strong side including Virgil van Dijk, Alexis Mac Allister and Andy Robertson.
Davis Keillor-Dunn almost opened the scoring on 30 seconds but his header from a Phillips cross bounced off the left post – denying the visitors a dream start and memorable moment.
But it was the hosts who took the lead in the ninth minute through Dominik Szoboszlai’s superb 30-yard strike into the top left corner.
Jono Bland then set up Keillor-Dunn to lead a counter but he shot well wide from 20 yards. Bland saw a 25-yard effort pushed away by goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili.
An excellent Vimal Yoganathan pass released Keillor-Dunn again and, after being held up by Virgil van Dijk, his 20-yard shot was straight at the goalkeeper.
The second goal arrived on 37 minutes and saw Nathanael Ogbeta – starting for the first time in months – easily beaten by former Manchester City academy team-mate Jeremie Frimpong who then lashed a shot home.
But Barnsley replied soon after when Szoboszlai inexplicably gifted the ball to Phillips in the six-yard box and the former Liverpool academy player tapped in a few yards out.
In the second half, Murphy Cooper brilliantly pushed a van Dijk shot onto the crossbar from a corner.
Barnsley were convinced they should have had a penalty when Reyes Cleary ran onto a Keillor-Dunn pass and went down in the box after contact from Szoboszlai but the claims were waved away.
Van Dijk then sent a header from a Cody Gakpo cross just wide of the bottom left corner.
Florian Wirtz – Liverpool’s £120million substitute – shot over a few yards out after meeting a superb Szoboszlai cross.
Wirtz eventually found the top right corner from just inside the box after a clever touch by fellow substitute Hugo Ekitike.
Substitute David McGoldrick almost replied in injury-time but headed over from a Cleary cross.
But instead it was 4-1 when Szoboszlai’s pass over the top put Wirtz through to square to Ekitike to tap home.
Barnsley (5-3-2): Cooper; Watson, de Gevigney, Shepherd, Ogbeta (O’Connell 73mins), O’Keeffe, Bland, Phillips (Kelly 73), Yoganathan (Gent 88), Cleary, Keillor-Dunn (McGoldrick 79).
Unused: Flavell, Roberts, Jalo, Barratt, Farrell.
Goals: Phillips 42.
Liverpool (4-3-3): Mamardashvili; Frimpong (Wirtz 59mins), Gomez (Konate 59), van Dijk, Robertson; Jones, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister (Nyoni 88); Ngumoah (Gravenberch 73), Gakpo, Chiesa (Ekitike 59).
Unused: Allison, Endo, Kerkez, Nyoni, Ramsay.
Yellow cards: Gomes.
Goals: Szoboszlai 9, Frimpong 37, Wirtz 84, Ekitike 90+5.
