Bristol City 3-1 Barnsley

Bristol City strolled to a comfortable 3-1 opening-day victory as Bobby Reid and Famara Diedhiou put brittle Barnsley to the sword at Ashton Gate.Last season City relied on the goals of Tammy Abraham and the creativity of Lee Tomlin to secure their Sky Bet Championship status.But with Chelsea youngster Abraham heading to Swansea for more loan experience in the Premier League and playmaker Tomlin joining Cardiff, Lee Johnson's side required new blood up front.They appear to have found it in the form of Senegal striker Diedhiou, a £5.3million club-record addition from Angers in France, and Reid.The 24-year-old local lad was pushed into a more advanced position during pre-season and it worked to good effect.Against opponents who have sold key personnel in the summer and might well be heading for a relegation battle, Reid scored twice and set up Diedhiou for a debut goal inside the opening half-hour.Barnsley managed a stoppage-time consolation through substitute Ryan Hedges, but utter humiliation was only prevented by the Tykes' Welsh goalkeeper Adam Davies.Both sides struck the woodwork in the opening 10 minutes, with Davies tipping Josh Brownhill's fierce volley on to the crossbar and Diedhiou unable to scramble in the rebound under pressure.Barnsley's response was to see George Moncur unleash a 20-yard drive which easily beat Frank Fielding in the City goal but not the crossbar.It seemed as if it would be an even affair at that point, but once City struck after 17 minutes there was no way back for Barnsley.Diedhiou out-muscled Angus MacDonald to reach Eros Pisano's ball over the top, and although the striker was denied by the alert Davies, Reid emphatically dispatched the rebound.The same combination was responsible for doubling City's lead after 25 minutes when Jamie Paterson slid a clever pass to Reid and his cross was met by the head of Diedhiou, rising above Andy Yiadom at the far post.Five minutes later City were out of sight when Joe Bryan cut inside from his left-back station to deliver a low shot which Davies could only divert into the lurking Reid's path.Davies foiled Marlon Pack and Jens Hegeler as defenders parted in front of him and he was soon in action after the re-start to deny Brownhill with yet another diving stop.Barnsley were better after the break following the introduction of Adam Hammill, but Reid almost completed his hat-trick in the final stages before Hedges had the final word.ends