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*Aston Villa’s awful start to 2017 continued as Barnsley sent them to a fourth straight Championship defeat - and second at home in four days.*

Tom Bradshaw scored twice with 15-yard shots either side of the break, after on-loan Adam Armstrong had fired the Tykes ahead with a 25th-minute penalty.

From 2-0 down, Jonathan Kodjia offered hope, scoring from a narrow angle a minute after Bradshaw’s first goal.

But Bradshaw’s second condemned Villa to a seventh defeat in eight games.

Watched by their lowest league home crowd of the season, Villa are still seven points clear of relegation danger after a defeat inflicted by two strikers who were last season scoring their goals in the Midlands for League One clubs, Armstrong for Coventry City and Bradshaw for Walsall.

Barnsley are ninth, six points shy of a play-off place, after their first victory - and goals - in three games.

Villa had a lot of early first-half possession and created decent openings, with Henri Lansbury going close three times, while Albert Adomah powered a shot just over and former Barnsley captain Conor Hourihane missed a free header.

But, out of the blue, the game changed on 25 minutes when winger Marley Watkins fell heavily under Jordan Amavi’s challenge and striker Armstrong, on loan from Newcastle, confidently converted the resulting penalty to Sam Johnstone’s right.

Kodjia twice went close for Villa, either side of Barnsley’s Liverpool loanee Ryan Kent having a free-kick tipped away for a corner by home goalkeeper Johnstone.

However, on 43 minutes, Barnsley worked a second goal from the right, with Andy Yiadom flicking on for Bradshaw to clip a neat right-foot finish inside Johnstone’s right post.

Villa’s response was instant, scoring just a minute later when Adomah’s low ball from the right made it beyond the far post, where Kodjia turned in coolly from a narrow angle.

But, on 58 minutes, Barnsley made the game safe when Villa failed to clear their lines from a badly-defended free-kick, allowing Bradshaw to drill a low left-foot finish into Johnstone’s bottom right corner - only a seventh goal of the season for the summer signing.