Barnsley made a tremendous start to their League One season with a 4-0 thrashing of Oxford United at Oakwell on Saturday.
Mamadou Thiam netted in the 20th and 29th minutes with long-range strikes into the bottom left corner then Brad Potts and debutant Victor Adeboyejo completed the rout late on.
It was an impressive display from the Reds who dominated their visitors from the start and could have scored several extra goals.
Head coach Daniel Stendel, in charge of a competitive fixture for the first time, selected striker Thiam and Brad Potts on the wings, leaving natural winger Lloyd Isgrove on the bench. He also chose Ethan Pinnock to partner Liam Lindsay at centre-back ahead of Adam Jackson, with no place in the squad for Jason McCarthy who was unwell.
Both home strikers had half chances in the first ten minutes as Kieffer Moore sent a difficult headed chance wide then Tom Bradshaw hooked a high ball into the arms of goalkeeper Simon Eastwood.
Oxford responded with Jon Obika making a mess of an attempted volley after a long ball caught out the home defence then James Henry fired a shot across the face of goal from the right side of the box.
The home fans and Stendel thought Barnsley should have had a penalty when Eastwood misjudged a long ball and cleaned out Moore, then a fine Thiam cross reached Potts but he was denied by a combination of Eastwood and Luke Garbutt.
Ethan Pinnock sent a weak header straight at the goalkeeper from a Mowatt corner but the Reds were soon in front. Thiam picked up the ball 25 yards out and fired a superb low shot into the bottom left corner. It was his first goal at Oakwell and his first from open play since joining the club.
Adam Davies then made his first save of the season, diving to his right to comfortably save a 20-yard effort from Obika before Eastwood easily caught a Moore header from a Mowatt corner.
It was soon 2-0 when Moore won the ball with a slide tackle in the centre circle and Kenny Dougall passed forward to Potts who exchanged passes with Bradshaw before Thiam fired another goal in from even further out.
The Reds pressed for a third with Mowatt firing over from long range then Bradshaw heading a Pinillos cross straight at Eastwood. Oxford's Henry had another good chance on 58 minutes but poked a volley over the bar then Obika went clean through on goal but got it caught under his feet and was dispossessed by a combination of Davies and Pinnock.
Dougall almost scored from 60 yards after a poor Eastwood kick went straight to him in the centre circle and the Australian's looping effort from in his own half looked set to find the back of the empty net before the goalkeeper scrambled back to save it. Dougall then forced another save from 20 yards while, at the other end, Davies clawed out a serving 30-yarder from impressive Oxford substitute Rob Hall.
Potts made it 3-0 after 77 minutes with a fine shot into the top left corner from 15 yards after a counter-attack, which he started, saw substitute George Moncur play in Mowatt who was tackled before Potts scored.
It was almost 4-0 soon after as substitute Cameron McGeehan powered past a tired home defence and played in Moncur whose shot was easily saved by Eastwood.
Davies made a couple of comfortable saves from long range then the fourth goal came after another counter-attack ended when McGeehan met a cross from the right but miscued his shot straight to substitute Adeboyejo who tapped in.
The Reds almost made it five with Dimitri Cavare's 30-yard being deflected just wide then Bradshaw's header from a Moncur corner forced a fine reactions save from Eastwood.
Barnsley team: Davies; Cavare, Pinnock, Lindsay, Pinillos; Potts, Mowatt (McGeehan 78), Dougall, Thiam (Moncur 70); Bradshaw, Moore (Adeboyejo 82). Subs: Walton, Jackson Isgrove, Bird.
Oxford team: Eastwood; McMahon, Dickie, Nelson, Garbutt; Henry (Hall 63mins), Brannagan, Ruffells, Carruthers (Smith 21); Mackie (Whyte 82), Obika. Subs: Hall, Mousinho, Raglan, Stevens.
