Barnsley boss Gudjon Thordarson was left ruing another torrid time at Vale Park as his side crashed to a 3-1 defeat and surrendered top spot to Port Vale.
The Icelander would have hoped to have had a better time at Vale Park with his new club Barnsley, but past records have shown that he had a fruitless time while managing rivals Stoke City.
However it started very well and it didn't take long for the Tykes to nick a goal after eight minutes.
Kevin Betsy beat young defender Ryan Brown on the left byline to knock the ball to Chris Lumsdon who supplied Rory Fallon eight yards out and he slid in a shot to score in Dean Delaney's bottom left corner.
Vale's reply was rapid and fairly deserved in the 23rd minute after a couple of close chances. Mark Boyd whipped in a corner from the left and Andreas Lipa grabbed his first goal for the club at the back post.
The bright spark for Barnsley continued to be Betsy with his control and pace being the only threat to Vale's goal. It looked like one-way traffic towards the end of the first half with Sam Collins and Steve Brooker both going close.
The Valiants came out quickly in the second half and started where they left off when good work on the left wing in the 55th minute allowed Boyd to set up another header by supplying George Pilkington on the right of the area and he beat Sasa Ilic to score.
Adrian Littlejohn crowned his performance off nicely in the 73rd minute after Stephen McPhee used his superior pace to burst down the right wing past the struggling Peter Handyside to play the ball inside the area. However, after a lapse of judgement by Craig Ireland, Littlejohn picked up the loose ball and slotted home into the right corner from nine yards.
Losing manager Thordarson said: "On the day we were simply not good enough. Port Vale gave us a lot of difficulties, our defence was daydreaming and left players completely unmarked. Sometimes you have to get beat to highlight what you are doing wrong."