Barnsley’s four-game winning run came to an end with a 3-1 loss at Darrell Clarke’s old club Bristol Rovers.

The Reds were on top for most of the match but were very wasteful and conceded two poor goals either side of the break.

Josh Earl pulled one back midway through the second half and had chances to level but the hosts added a third late on.

They remain fifth but are now just a point clear in the top six.

Clarke made two changes from the side that beat Crawley 3-0 at fortnight earlier. Marc Roberts and Luca Connell returned in place of Donovan Pines and Kelechi Nwakali.

New signing Neil Farrugia was on the bench, while there was no goalkeeper among the substitutes.

Max Watters met a Georgie Gent left-wing cross ten yards out but appeared to see it late and could only scuff to the goalkeeper, following a good move involving Watters, Davis Keillor-Dunn and Luca Connell.

Keillor-Dunn’s 22-yard strike, after Watters laid the ball off to him, was well-saved by goalkeeper Josh Griffith who dived to his left. Adam Phillips hit the side netting from a tight angle on the right after being picked out by Keillor-Dunn on seven minutes.

Scott Sinclair could have put the hosts in front on ten minutes, against the run of play, after being played through in space on the left of the box but dragged well wide.

Watters was then denied one-on-one by Griffiths after meeting a superb Phillips pass following a Roberts tackle.

Griffiths fumbled a Connell 20-yard effort into the net but it was ruled out for offside against Watters who was judged to have been obstructing the goalkeeper’s view.

At the other end, Ben Killip made a good save to push away a long distance effort by Isaac Hutchinson which looked bound for the top right corner.

Keillor-Dunn then saw another shot from the edge of the box tipped over by Griffiths after he impressively clipped the ball into Connell’s path then received the return pass on the right wing and cut inside.

Watters was again denied one on one by Griffiths after a Phillips pass at the end of a good move. Mael de Gevigney glanced a Corey O’Keeffe cross just wide of the bottom left corner.

Gatlin O’Donkor robbed Roberts in the box but his shot from a very tight angle on the right was turned behind by Killip.

O’Donkor broke the deadlock with a close-range header from a right-wing cross, seconds after Sinclair’s chipped effort from the left hit the bar.

Home defender James Wilson then headed off the line just before the break.

Keillor-Dunn came off at half-time for Stephen Humphrys who almost levelled within seconds but he headed O’Keeffe’s left-wing cross back across goal and wide from a few yards out.

But the hosts were gifted a second goal on 52 minutes. Connell lost the ball deep in his half and defender Wilson went clean through on goal. He was denied by a good Killip save but squared to Hutchinson to tap in.

Ex-Red Luke Thomas almost made it 3-0 minutes later but his long-range effort was a well saved by Killip.

Watters should have pulled one back just after the hour but clipped the ball over the bar from a Jon Russell cross after superb work by debutant Farrugia, who had just come on, to beat two defenders.

Russell looked certain to pull one back on the rebound after a Phillips shot was well saved but he seems to slip and the ball rolled past him.

Earl eventually scored midway through the second when he headed in from an O’Keeffe free-kick.

Watters had the ball in the back of the net from an O’Keeffe cross but it had hit Phillips’ hand on the way through so was ruled out.

Humphrys then saw a shot from the edge of the box saved by the legs of Griffiths.

Watters missed another one-on-one chance, touching the ball past Griffiths but wide of the right post after a fine Earl pass.

It was 3-1 on 85 minutes when Wilson again got in on the right, outmuscled Farrugia, and crossed for substitute Ruel Sotiriou to fire home from close range.

Barnsley (3-5-2): Killip; de Gevigney, Roberts, Earl; O’Keeffe (Lofthouse 79mins), Phillips, Connell (Nwakali 55mins), Russell, Gent (Farrugia 55); Watters (Cosgrove 79), Keillor-Dunn (Humphrys HT).

Unused: Pines, McCarthy.

Goals: Earl 67.

Bristol Rovers (4-2-3-1): Griffiths; Moore, Wilson, Taylor, Sousa; Ward, Sawyers; Sinclair (Martin 72), Hutchinson (Sotiriou 72), Thomas; O’Donkor (Mola 76).

Unused: Hall, Senior, Forde, Lindsay.

Goals: O’Donkor 42, Hutchinson 52, Sotiriou 85.