Cheltenham Town Reserves suffered a disappointing defeat at Bristol City in the Final Third Development League Cup at the Filton Academy Ground.
Three of the goals came in the second half as a young City side took advantage of some poor defensive work, but Cheltenham will wonder how they failed to score at least one goal.
Harry Williams saw a shot deflected against the base of the right post in the seventh minute and countless other chances went begging, while goalkeeper Will Henry made some fine saves to shut Cheltenham out.
The opening goal arrived in the 17th minute when a throw-in was not dealt with and Bilal beat Matt Gould with a neat finish inside the bottom left corner, but it was all too easy in the build-up.
Omari Sterling-James and Zack Kotwica were both denied by Henry before Jack Deaman nodded a Joe Hanks corner against the bar and Bobbie Dale was denied by another good save.
Dale also shot wide of the far post after being teed up by Sterling-James as it remained 1-0 at the break.
Cheltenham's best move came in the 53rd minute when substitute Callum Craddock fed Sterling-James on the right and his cross was touched by Dale into the path of Williams, but his volley was blocked for a corner.
Gould denied Bilal a second with a one-on-one save in the 53rd minute, but City scored again before the hour mark when Elijah Chilekwa's cross was headed in by Connor Evans.
Kotwica and Sterling-James both went close again, but Cheltenham were caught on the break and seconds after Henry touched a shot against the bar, City had counter-attacked and made it 3-0 through Joe McNulty.
The fourth goal came five minutes from the end when James Difford skipped away from Deaman and saw his shot parried by Gould, but substitute Jake Andrew tapped in the rebound to complete the misery for Cheltenham.Â