Barnsley endured a nightmare start to the season, going down 3-1 at Bristol City.
The points were wrapped up by half time with three strikes in a harrowing 15 minutes. Substitute Ryan Hedges struck one back in injury time.
Barnsley fielded four debutants including recent signing Brad Potts but Matty Pearson, signed yesterday from Accrington Stanley, was not registered in time to play.
Both sides rattled the woodwork in the opening ten minutes.
First, former Reds loanee Josh Brownhill, brought a tremendous save out of Adam Davies, who turned his effort from the edge of the box onto the bar.
At the other end, George Moncur made room for a curling effort from the edge of the box and it flicked off the bar and away from danger.
The home side were ahead on 16 minutes as Bobby Reid benefited from defensive indecision to smash into an empty net.
The lead was doubled in the 25th minute when City's new record signing Famara Diedhiou headed in from Reid's cross.
And it got even worse five minutes later when Reid was again on hand for an easy finish after Davies had kept out a fierce shot from Jamie Paterson.
Adam Hammill was brought on for the second half as Barnsley aimed to restore some sort of pride.
They improved in the second half with Potts heading at goal and Hammill firing over from distance.
Reid lashed at a chance for his hat-trick after being supplied by Brownhill.
Brownhill had the final chance of the game for the hosts but the midfielder's effort curled over the bar.
Substitute Hedges got a late consolation after turning in from close-range.
Barnsley: Davies, McCarthy, MacDonald, Jackson, Yiadom, Potts (Hedges 63), Moncur, Williams, Mowatt, Bradshaw (Hammill half time), Ugbo (Payne 79). Unused: Townsend, Pinnock, Bird, Brown.
Bristol City: Fielding, Pisano, Wright, Hegeler (Flint 81), Bryan, Brownhill, Pack, Smith, Paterson (O'Dowda 73), Reid (Engvall 81), Diedhiou. Unused: Lucic, Magnusson, Vyner, O'Neil.
Attendance: 18, 742 (1,220 from Barnsley). Referee: Andy Davies (Hampshire).
