A terrible first half cost Barnsley as, despite a fightback after the break, they lost 3-2 at high-flying Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.
The Reds found themselves 3-0 down after an awful first half then Luca Connell and Adam Phillips scored within three second half minutes to make it 3-2 after an hour.
Barnsley could not level and they fell down a place to 15th in League One, five points clear of the relegation zone and 12 off the play-offs.
They showed character in the second half but the first was very poor and showed their defensive frailty which has cost them all season.
Returning striker Tom Bradshaw started and made his first appearance for the Reds since 2018 while Luca Connell came back after illness. Patrick Kelly and Vimal Yoganathan dropped out.
Barnsley almost took the lead after 25 seconds when after collecting a fine Jack Shepherd pass, Scott Banks cut in from the right and had a 25-yard shot which was pushed out of the top left corner by Jack Bonham.
But immediately from that point Barnsley looked nervous. Owen Goodman saw a clearance blocked by Sam Dalby which luckily bounced away from goal then Eoghan O’Connell gifted the ball to Corey Blackett-Taylor and had to concede a corner on the left. From that fifth-minute corner, Dalby headed in a few yards out.
It was almost 2-0 minutes later when Blackett-Taylor was put clean through on the left and but his weak shot was saved by Goodman.
The goalkeeper again denied Bolton with a fine block from ex-Red John McAtee who skipped past two tackles in the box.
Eoin Toal headed over from a Kyle Dempsey cross after Barnsley were again cut open.
The second goal on 20 minutes came from another left-wing corner which was missed by Goodman then went through David McGoldrick and was tapped in on the line by Dalby.
The third goal saw Jack Shepherd lose the ball and Dalby was played in on the right of the box then squared to McAtee to fire home against his former club.
Goodman then dropped a cross and punched away in a panic on the floor but George Johnston’s shot from distance was well over.
Blackett-Taylor was put clean through after fine passes by McAtee and Dalby but Goodman impressively pushed the shot out of the top left corner. Chris Forino then headed a corner over from close range.
It was 3-0 at the break but easily could have been more than double that after one of the worst Barnsley displays of the season.
Barnsley made four changes at half-time with O’Connell, Tennai Watson, Reyes Cleary and McGoldrick coming off for Kelly, Mael de Gevigney, Nathanael Ogbeta and Adam Phillips.
De Gevigney lost the ball to McAtee in his box but recovered to win it off him then, at the other end, Banks shot wide from distance.
Connell reduced the deficit with a deflected 20-yard shot which wrong-footed the goalkeeper and trickled in. Bradshaw then missed a golden chance as he shot straight at the goalkeeper from close range after a fine run down the left and pass by Kelly.
The second Barnsley goal saw Banks, after having two shots blocked on the right of the box, pull the ball back for Phillips who lashed a 15-yard shot into the top right corner.
McAtee got the better of Connell then found substitute Cyrus Christie whose 25-yard effort was touched behind by Goodman.
Ogbeta, the former Bolton player, saw a close-range header saved by Bonham after a clever free-kick routine led to O’Keeffe crossing on the right of the box.
Barnsley (4-4-2): Goodman; O’Keeffe, O’Connell (de Gevigney HT), Shepherd, Watson (Ogbeta HT); Banks, Connell, Bland, Cleary (Phillips HT); McGoldrick (Kelly HT), Bradshaw. Unused: Flavell, Yoganathan, Roberts.
Yellow cards: Bland, Shepherd.
Goals: Connell 57, Phillips 60.
Bolton (4-3-3): Bonham; Osei-Tutu (Christie 70mins), Forino, Toal, Johnston; Dempsey (Simons 62), Erhahon, Apter (Burstow 81), McAtee, Blackett-Taylor (Gale 62), Dalby.
Unused: Harrington, Temple, Cissoko.
Yellow cards: Dempsey, Forino, Johnston.
Goals: Dalby 5, 20, McAtee 32.
