THEY say it is never too wise to read too much into a pre-season friendly – but as a final dress rehearsal, this was an unmitigated disaster for Scunthorpe.

They were ripped to shreds in the opening 45 minutes by a sweet-passing Barnsley side who many pundits predict might struggle in the Championship this season.

On the evidence of Saturday's 5-0 drubbing, it's the Iron who look to be in for another long hard season at League One level.

All the problems that dogged them last season in their relegation from the second tier of English football returned to haunt them again.

A brittle defence at one end, an ineffective attack at the other, a midfield that found itself being over-run – and not enough pace in the side.

The positives to take from the game were some flashes of quality from summer signing Jimmy Ryan, a couple of decent efforts from trialist midfield man Dominic Green – and a first appearance of the pre-season campaign from key midfield man Michael O'Connor.

In his 14 minutes on the pitch at the end, he looked sharp, lively, able to pick a pass and gave a brief glimpse of the calibre of player all United fans desperately hope he can be in League One this season.

But it is going to take more than just a fit O'Connor to remedy the shortcomings of that first 45-minute horror show against Barnsley in United's only appearance at Glanford Park before the start of the new campaign

They were 3-0 down after just 20 minutes with some woeful defending – and conceded two more before half-time in similar fashion.

It was just too easy for the South Yorkshire outfit who had Jim McNulty, a loanee in the first half of last season at Glanford Park, playing in the centre of the defence.

I think United boss Knill, now at the age of 46 could have probably still played their himself, such was the lack of attacking nous from the home side.

The only effort they mustered at goal in the opening half was a chip from full-back Eddie Nolan that was turned over by keeper David Preece.

At the other end, Josh Lillis was picking the ball out of his net after only seven minutes when a poor clearance inside his own box by centre back Paul Reid enabled Ricardo Vaz Te to open the scoring.

Seven minutes later Vaz Te turned provider when the Scunthorpe defence was sliced wide open again and Craig Davies bundled it home from close range.

Bad got to worse another seven minutes on from that when a quick break from defence by the visitors saw Kyle Reid outpace United skipper Sam Togwell through the middle before picking his spot again past Lillis.

The Tykes struck once more after 33 minutes when Davies muscled his way far too easily past centre back Michael Nelson for another clear run into the box and clinical finish.

Two minutes from the interval, Nelson was left for dead by Davies again who this time set up midfield man Nathan Doyle to make it 5-0.

Knill insists he is not the type of manager to throw cups of tea around in the dressing room – but he must have been sorely tempted to throw the kettle as well at half-time on Saturday.

The sort of performance he had just witnessed was supposed to be a thing of the past as he tries to build a better future again at Glanford Park.

But an indication of how far short he still is with his squad came from the team sheet which included two players on trial just a week before the start of the new campaign.

And the names that were missing were equally telling, with no Cliff Byrne, Andy Barcham, Mark Duffy, Chris Dagnall or Andy Hughes.

Byrne is still probably a month away from being ready, Barcham and Duffy had minor knocks, Dagnall was with his wife who was rushed into hospital on Friday night – and Hughes looks like he might be on his way out of the club.

The second half was better – or at least it was when Knill began to make some changes – but then it could not have got any worse.

Green came on to pep up the attacking side of things, twice testing the Barnsley keeper with good goal-bound efforts, first from the left and then from the right.

The lively Ryan too had a long range effort collected under the bar by Preece, who was also called into action to block away with his legs a shot from Jordan Robertson.

The biggest cheer of the afternoon for the home fans came with the introduction after 76 minutes of O'Connor.

It went some way to lifting the gloom from a 5-0 spanking for United on the eve of the new season.

In truth, apart from a good first half at Rotherham last Wednesday, Scunthorpe have been distinctly unimpressive in their build-up programme.

Knill has just six days left to put that right before they run out at Wycombe.

But while he himself comes under unexpected early pressure, it's the players that have got to take a long hard look at themselves after a showing like this.

It wasn't good enough at Championship level last season – and it won't be acceptable in League One this.

UNITED: Lillis, Nolan, Nelson, Reid, Gunning, Ryan, Collins, Togwell, Djilali, Robertson, Grant; subs Wright (46 mins), Thompson (65 mins), Canavan, Raynes, Green (72 mins), O'Connor, Godden (76 mins).

BARNSLEY: Preece, Wiseman, Hassall, McNulty, McEveley, Lovre, Doyle, O'Brien, Vaz Te, Reid, Davies; subs Rose, Lidakevicius (62 mins), Rigby 77mins).

ATTENDANCE: 1,432 (366 away).