A brace from Wesley Fonguck and goals from Alex Nicholls and Nana Kyei gave Barnet a convincing 4-0 win over a strong Gillingham side in a friendly at The Hive this afternoon.
Rossi Eames led a Bees side which included several senior players interspersed among a number of the club’s youngsters, while head coach Martin Allen and Carl Muggleton watched on.
Gillingham, meanwhile, had former Bee Mark Byrne in the centre of midfield as well as first-team players Ryan Jackson, Chris Herd, Deji Oshilaja and Rory Donnelly.
But they were no match for the Bees who raced into the lead after just four minutes when Fonguck collected the ball from a short corner
routine and slammed into the far corner.
Seven minutes later the Bees doubled up. Sam Muggleton, starting at left wing-back, was bundled over inside the box and Nicholls coolly dispatched the penalty.
Barnet continued to make chances; Kyei dragging wide after being fed by Alie Sesay before Fonguck got his second of the game midway through the first half.
Justin Amaluzor got away down the left and cut back for Fonguck to tuck home Barnet’s third.
Another chance came and went when skipper Ben Tomlinson crossed from the right with Muggleton and Sesay just failing to get the all-important touch in the middle.
A minute before the break Barnet did bag a fourth, Kyei skipping inside and firing over Gills keeper Tom Hadler with the aid of a deflection.
Gillingham had their first chance of note after the restart when substitute Elliott List spun into space and hit the post from the edge of the area.
Former Bee Mark Byrne brought a good stop out of Josh Vickers afterwards, but Barnet were soon on top once more.
A lovely flick from Nicholls released Tomlinson one-v-one but he dragged a low shot agonisingly wide of the near post.
Substitutes Ephron Mason-Clark and Jamal Campbell-Ryce quickly combined after entering the fray with the former laying the ball off for the latter to slam wide on the run.
Another substitute, Fumnaya Shomotun, hit the target near the end but Hadler did well to grasp his dipping drive at the second attempt.
Barnet had the game’s final chance, Mason-Clark dragging a low shot wide after making space on the edge.
Reaction from Rossi Eames to follow.
Barnet: Vickers; Smith, Sesay, Payne; Tomlinson (c) (Campbell-Ryce), Kyei, Fonguck, Coker, Muggleton (Shomotun); Nicholls, Amaluzor (Mason-Clark).
