ANGRY Phil Parkinson accused City of taking Barnsley too lightly after they surrendered their unbeaten away record.

The Bantams were beaten 3-1 in the televised Yorkshire derby at Oakwell, despite scoring first through Jason Kennedy after just 44 seconds.

They blew the chance to go fourth with their first league loss on the road this season.

And Parkinson felt his side lacked the drive they have shown on their travels up to now.

The City chief said: “It was almost as if there was a feeling in the team that it was too easy. We were the team with the away form, they’re poor at home, we’ve got the goal and it will take care of itself.

“Barnsley are a good side. They are probably in a false position in the league and that was costly for us.

“We started very well, it couldn’t have been better for us, but then we became a bit self-indulgent on the ball.

“It was almost as if we wanted to show how good we are as individuals rather than a team.”

City led at the break thanks to a string of saves from Jordan Pickford but Barnsley, who had won only once at Oakwell before yesterday, turned them over in a one-sided second half.

Parkinson added: “As much as we played some good stuff in patches, Jordan has had too many saves to make. There were too many bits in our game where we were negligent.

“I thought we had some patches of really good play in the first half but in the second we were very much second best.

“The goals were soft and we could have done better with them. We gave a crowd that had been very quiet a huge lift.

“Barnsley were kicking towards their end in the second half and when they got that first goal, they were the team in the ascendancy. We did lose our way.”

James Hanson was again missing and City will be desperate to get him right for their next TV date against Sheffield United at Valley Parade on Saturday.

Aaron Mclean and Billy Clarke played up front again but failed to have any impact.

“James isn’t a million miles away,” said Parkinson. “Like I said before, when you’re injured you can’t do anything about it.

“I thought he might be fit for this week but it didn’t quite happen. We need our key players. He’s our top scorer and we need him back.

“We got in some good positions where balls were slid across the face of the goal in the second half where somebody sliding in might have got a goal for us.

“But we’ve got to get back to a hard-working display across the 90 minutes next week and make sure we don’t neglect the basics.

“That means being in the right position when we haven’t got the ball as well as looking to play when we have.”

City will have to do it without Gary Liddle after the midfielder was given his fifth booking yesterday.

Parkinson added: “It’s a blow because Lidds has been excellent.

“We’ve had a terrific run on our travels with some really good performances. This wasn’t one of those but we’ve got to put it right next week.”