Barnsley 5, Leeds United 2

Leeds United's kamikaze defending saw their three-match winning run end in embarrassing fashion at Oakwell tonight in the npower Championship.

Despite the encouragement of an early goal by Jonny Howson, Leeds fell apart, especially in the second half, and suffered a 5-2 thrashing in the first of three successive Yorkshire derbies.

It was Leeds' first five-goal concession since their FA Cup first-round replay at Northampton Town in November, 2008, in Gary McAlister's reign.

After developing a habit of falling behind, Leeds drew first blood inside the first three minutes - to the delight of their 6,700 travelling fans.

Barnsley failed to clear Neil Kilkenny's low corner and Howson's shot from just inside the penalty area brought his second early goal of the campaign, following his second-minute effort in the Carling Cup win over Lincoln City last month.

Leeds' only change was the return of Lloyd Sam in place of Sanchez Watt, who dropped to the bench, while Barnsley gave a debut to Scotland international striker Garry O'Connor, on loan from Birmingham.

A gusting wind made controlled passing difficult but Adam Hammill caused a 17th-minute scare for Leeds by firing into the side-netting after Max Gradel lost possession.

Leeds captain Richard Naylor, given a vote of confidence by manager Simon Grayson before the game, headed over Barnsley's bar when unmarked, but as the Tykes recovered from a slow start, Andy Gray brought an excellent save from Shane Higgs, again deputising for injured Leeds keeper Kasper Schmeichel.

There was nothing Higgs could do to prevent a 42nd- minute equaliser from O'Connor after Leeds' Argentine defender Federico Bessone gave the ball away inside his own penalty area, allowing Hammill to make progress and cut the ball back for O'Connor to find the bottom corner.

Grayson was furious with his former Swansea left back for the costly lapse in concentration.

Andrew Hughes replaced Bessone three minutes into the second half but Barnsley took a 49th-minute lead when more poor defending saw Paul Connolly and Higgs fail to deal with Hammill's ball to Jim O'Brien, who had a simple tap-in.

Worse was to follow in the 65th minute when Barnsley's Uruguayan Diego Arismendi latched on to a corner and scored from a tight angle.

With Leeds in disarray, Neill Collins put through his own goal, and a minute later Hammill struck his side's fifth goal on 83 minutes.

Substitute Davide Somma collected his fourth goal of the season for Leeds four minutes from the end but it was too little too late.

* Robert Snodgrass and Billy Paynter continued their recovery from injury by playing a full 90 minutes in a Leeds side which defeated Middlesbrough Reserves 3-1 behind closed doors today.

Recent signings Amdy Faye and Ramon Nunez also completed the full game, Nunez scoring one of the goals and Mike Grella netting the other two.