Barnet 0-4 Halifax Town

Barnet look like they will be consigned to another year in the fifth tier after they were crushed by play-off contenders Halifax Town.

A double from Scott Spencer either side of Lee Gregory's strike sent the visitors into a 3-0 lead at half-time, with Lois Maynard grabbing a fourth on 53 minutes.

The margin of the loss comes as a massive shock as the Bees had been unbeaten in Martin Allen's four games prior to this one.

And it was the first time a usually resolute Barnet defence had conceded four goals all season.

There were three changes made to the Bees side which 1-1 drew at Southport in midweek as Elliott Johnson, Connor Dymond and Curtis Weston coming in for Mauro Vilhete, Keanu Marsh-Brown.

Barnet started magnificently, forcing two fantastic saves from Matt Glennon in the opening minute.

Mark Byrne's 25-yard left-foot curler was finger tipped over the bar, with Jake Hyde having a shot parried from the resulting corner after turning on the edge of the box.

Despite this, it was Halifax who took the lead with five minutes played. Gregory raced clear after a quick free-kick, with his toe poke across goal being tapped home by the advancing Spencer.

From then on, Halifax controlled the game. Marc Roberts came close to doubling the lead, but Stack came out to block his effort.

The Shaymen did notch a second strike midway through the half. Gregory collected a header which looped over Stack, with him tapping the ball into the empty goal.

After 32 minutes, Halifax were out of sight. Gregory laid the ball off to Scott MacManus, whose low cross was converted by Spencer to give the visitors a commanding 3-0 scoreline.

Immediately after the second-half, Byrne almost got a consolation, but his shot was blocked by Glennon.

The scoreline was turning into a rout as Halifax scoter a fourth on 53 minutes. A corner found its way to Maynard, who smashed home on the volley from close-range.

The frankly abject performance was underlined on 57 minutes when Spencer pressurised the Bees defence, with Stack having to be alert to palm the ball wide as it trickled past him.

This was followed one minute later by Maynard sliding through Gregory, but he skewed his shot horrendously when one-on-one.

Roberts almost scored the away side's fifth goal of the game on the hour mark, but Stack innocuously got in the way of his header following a corner.

The win for Halifax sees them move five points ahead of Barnet with a game-in-hand, meaning The Bees need a miracle to get play-offs.

Barnet: Stack; Yiadom, Stephens, Gjokaj, Johnson; Byrne, Weston, Harper (Muggleton), Dymond (Marsh-Brown); Hyde, Nurse.