Barnsley's difficult start to life back in the Championship continued as they saw their long unbeaten home record under Daniel Stendel disintegrate within the first half hour of this match.
Prior to this the Reds had never lost a home league match under Stendel, the run coming to an end after 29 games.
The Reds fell behind after just two minutes, the second time this season they have conceded this early (also at Sheffield Wednesday), it is the first time Barnsley have conceded as early as two minutes more than once in a season since 2017-2018 when they conceded twice in the first minute (v Burton and at Middlesbrough)
It was 0-2 after just five minutes, the first time Barnsley have conceded two goals at such an early stage since November 1997!- Southampton scored twice in the first five minutes of a 4-1 win in the Premier League. (3 and 5)
It then got worse as it became 0-3 after 31 minutes, the first time Barnsley have conceded three goals by this stage of a match since January 2017 when they were 3-1 down at Aston Villa after 19 minutes.
It is the first time however that the Reds have been 3-0 down this early since the opening day of the 2017-2018 campaign when they were 3-0 down at Bristol City after 30 minutes - all three games have finished 3-1.
Barnsley have now conceded at least twice in five successive matches (12 goals) for the first time since the final game of the 2007-2008 season and first four games of 2008-2009 (5 games, 11 goals)
Indeed Barnsley have conceded at least two goals in five of their last six Championship matches and eight of the last ten.
Barnsley conceded three goals in a league match at Oakwell for the first time in 35 games since losing 3-1 to Fulham in January 2018.
Jacob Butterfield gave Luton their early lead, the 29 year old midfielder who made his professional debut at Barnsley and scored eight goals in 100 appearances at Oakwell between 2007 and 2012 is the first ex Red to score against Barnsley since Chris Wood scored a last minute penalty for Burnley in the FA Cup Third Round in January. It is the first time an ex Red has scored a league goal against Barnsley since Josh Brownhill for Bristol City in March 2018.
There were six ex Barnsley players in the Luton squad (with a combined total of 267 appearances in a Red shirt) five of which played a part in the match.
Barnsley have now gone four leagues without a win (D1 L3) for the first time in 2019, last doing so in November/December 2018 (D2 L2)
They have gone five games in all competitions without a win (D1 L4) for the first time since March 2018 (D2 L3)
To try and change the club's fortunes Daniel Stendel made two changes at half time, the first time he has done this since the final game of last season.
Mallik Wilks scored his first goal for the club, this was the first time he has scored in a losing effort since December 2017 for Accrington at Lincoln. He had scored in 15 unbeaten games since (W11 D4)
Wilks has now been booked in three of the first six games of the season.
Barnsley have been shown nine yellow cards in the Championship so far this season, the joint most in the division.
The Hatters have scored at least twice in each of their last four visits to Oakwell
The away side has now won nine of the past 12 league meetings.
Barnsley have now won just four of their past 25 games at Championship level (D7 L14).
In all competitions Barnsley have won only one of their first six matches, their worst start to a season since 2013-2014 when they won only one of the first 13.
This is the first time Barnsley have won their first league game of the season but then failed to win any of the next five since 1994-1995. They have won their opening match on five occasions in between.
Either Bambo Diaby or Mads Andersen have been booked in five of the opening six games, with the Sheffield Wednesday match being the only exception.
Diaby and Wilks have both been booked in the first three home league games of the season, the first Barnsley players this has occurred for since 2007-2008 when Brian Howard was yellow carded in the opening three home matches.
There were 33 shots in the game (17-16), the most in a Barnsley game since the home game with Accrington in March - 34 (26-8)
Luton had more shots on target than Barnsley (5-7), as did Charlton (3-5), the first time Barnsley have had less shots on target than their opponents in successive home league games since November 2017 ( v Cardiff 1-4 and then Leeds 3-4)
Barnsley Team:
1. Samuel Radlinger
21. Toby Sibbick
5. Bambo Diaby
6. Mads Anderson
23. Dani Pinillos
8. Cameron McGeehan
27. Alex Mowatt
36. Mallik Wilks
10. Mike Bahre (C)
16. Luke Thomas
26. Mamadou Thiam
Substitutes:
15. Jordan Green (for Andersen 45)
3. Ben Williams (for Pinillos 45)
24. Aapo Halme (for Diaby 67)
Unused Substitutes:
11. Conor Chaplin, 19. Patrick Schmidt, 22. Clark Oduor, 40. Brad Collins.
Luton Team
12. Simon Sluga
22. Luke Bolton
6. Matty Pearson
5. Sonny Bradley (C)
26. James Bree
29. Jacob Butterfield
11. Andrew Shinnie
4. Ryan Tunnicliffe
19. James Collins
14. Harry Cornick
25. Kazenga LuaLua
Substitutions:
17. Pelly Ruddock (for LuaLua 81)
10. Elliot Lee (for Cornick 85)
23. Brendan Galloway (for Bree 90+4)
Unused Substitutes:
20. George Moncur, 24. Izzy Brown, 28. Lloyd Jones, 36. James Shea.
Luton manager Graeme Jones said:
"I think we need to enjoy the win and the performance because we were ruthless at times and I mean ruthless. If we'd have been 5-0 up at half-time, nobody could have complained.
"I knew we were really close to earning a first league victory but there comes a time when you have to win a game of football, no matter who you are.
"The psychological barrier was getting broken down week by week. I think we'll take a lot from it."
Match Reports:
Official Website
BBC
Sky Sports
Sky Bet Championship results:
SATURDAY 24TH AUGUST 2019
Derby County (16th) 1-1 West Bromwich Albion (8th)
Waghorn pen 6
Zohore pen 84
BARNSLEY (21st) 1-3 Luton Town (18th)
Butterfield 2
Collins 4
Cornick 31
Wilks 72
Blackburn Rovers (13th) 0-0 Cardiff City (14th)
Charlton Athletic (3rd) 1-0 Brentford (19th)
Gallagher 41
Fulham (5th) 1-2 Nottingham Forest (9th)
Grabban 4
Grabban 61
Mitrovic 83
Huddersfield Town (23rd) 0-2 Reading (11th)
Ejaria 71
Morrison 84
Hull City (20th) 1-3 Bristol City (4th)
Afobe pen 41
Bowen 44
Burke og 78
Afobe 80
Middlesbrough (17th) 1-1 Millwall (10th)
McNair 70
Bradshaw 76
Preston North End (6th) 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday (7th)
Johnson pen 32
Johnson pen 65
Fletcher 78
Queens Park Rangers (12th) 3-1 Wigan Athletic (22nd)
Kipre 2
Wells 48
Eze 61
Hugill 81
Stoke City (24th) 0-3 Leeds United (1st)
Dallas 42
Alioski 50
Bamford 66
SUNDAY 25TH AUGUST 2019
Swansea City (2nd) 3-0 Birmingham City (15th)
Naughton 63
Celina 68
Baston pen 75
Barnsley lie in 21st place in the Sky Bet Championship with 4 points from 5 games. We are 5 points outside the Play-Offs, 9 points outside the Automatic Promotion Places, 9 points outside First Place and 1 point above the Relegation Zone.
Up to 26/8/19
Next Up:
On The Road:
Sky Bet Championship Matchday Six: Wigan Athletic v Barnsley, Saturday 31st August 2019. Kick-Off: 3pm
At Oakwell:
Sky Bet Championship Matchday Seven: Barnsley v Leeds United, Sunday 15th September 2019. Kick-Off: 12:30pm