Barnsley U23s suffered a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Bristol City on Tuesday afternoon.
Elliot Simoes had given the young Reds a flying start at Ashton Gate, but a Liam Walsh penalty and goals from Sammie Szodics, Niclas Eliasson and Antoine Semenyo saw the hosts cruise to three points.
It was always likely to be a tough ask against a Robins side that had Ashley Williams at the heart of defence. The 35-year-old has 86 Wales caps to his name and has also featured more than 200 times in the Premier League for Swansea City and Everton, respectively.
But, after weathering an early storm, it was Barnsley who took the lead when Simoes nipped in ahead of Aden Baldwin and raced clear before prodding beyond Niki Mäenpää inside seven minutes.
That gave the visitors a confidence boost and they almost had a second moments later when a combination of Simoes, Alex Wollerton and Tommy Willard put the veteran Finnish goalkeeper under pressure, only for the blocked clearance to loop behind for a goal kick.
City were then awarded a dubious penalty for handball against Rudi Pache, who appeared to have been pushed in the back before the ball bounced up and struck his arm.
However, there were no complaints from the hosts as Walsh stepped up and slotted his penalty straight down the middle, over the outstretched legs of Jake Greatorex.
The Robins continued to pile pressure on Barnsley and came close to adding a second a few minutes later as Hakeeb Adelakun flashed a cross-cum-shot across the face of goal.
Midway through the first half, City doubled their lead when the ever-dangerous Semenyo fed strike partner Szodics, who clinically found the bottom corner from 18-yards.
Just minutes before half-time, the hosts had their third when Eliasson was afforded too much space inside the area before slamming home.
HALF-TIME: Bristol City 3-1 Barnsley
City picked up where they left off in the first half and extended their lead further when Semenyo rifled an unstoppable strike into the roof of the net just two minutes after the interval.
It was one-way traffic from that moment on, and Greatorex pulled off a fine save to first deny Szodics and then Eliasson from doubling their own personal tallies for the afternoon.
Williams came close with a headed effort from a corner, while Greatorex got down low to keep out Baldwin at his near post.
Despite being under the cosh for large parts of the second half, Barnsley still looked lively on the counter-attack and, after some neat interplay between Simoes and Chris Sang, the latter dragged a shot narrowly wide.
Simoes then showed a quick turn of pace to get beyond full-back Barney Soady, but his powerful drive was turned away by Mäenpää up to his right.
That proved to be the last real chance for either side, and the Reds will look to get back to winning ways when they host Crystal Palace at Oakwell on Monday 2 September.
ROBINS XI: Mäenpää, Pereira, Soady, Bakinson, Williams, Baldwin, Eliasson, Walsh, Semenyo, Szodics, Adelakun.
Subs: Harrison, Buse, Smith, Day, Rees.
REDS XI: Greatorex, Gagen, Fielding, Pache, Barnett, Ward (Lambert, 58), Wollerton, Martin (Binns, 66), Simoes, Sang (Lancaster, 66), Willard.
Not used: Brown, Sherlock.
