Brad Potts opened the scoring with a low effort into the bottom left corner just five minutes in, before former Hatter Cameron McGeehan found the same spot 20 minutes later when he passed the ball into the back of the net from George Moncur's cross.

James Collins wrongly had a goal ruled out for offside before he found the back of the net from the penalty spot after Harry Cornick had been tripped in the box late on in the first half.

Mamadou Thiam's rocket from just inside the box with ten minutes to play all but sealed the three points for the Tykes, but James Collins' volley late on gave the Town hope, but they were unable to grab a last gasp equaliser.

Jones said: "I thought they were better than us today. I thought they had more aggression than us, especially first half. They won the first ball and got onto the second, it causes problems. They played with a bit more intensity which isn't the case normally, full credit to them.

"We were way off our levels in terms of our ball retention, in terms of playing with intensity and fluidity, we were nowhere near. I could chastise my players for that or I could say Barnsley curtailed us. They are a good side, we knew that, but we knew we needed to be brave, we needed to win our battles and we didn't do that first half.

"The goals from their point of view, they'll be pleased. But we lost a header, he ran straight through the middle and shot and it's pretty much what happened at Doncaster, so we're not learning.

"The goals are really, really disappointing, but overall I thought Barnsley deserved their win, I cant stand here and say we should have [won it]. In reality we should have [got something from the game], there's an onside goal and then we should have a penalty late on for a pull back, he's got his arm around his neck.

"The big decisions have gone against us, but they were a little bit better than us today."