A promising start in central Lancashire soon turned to ash for Barnet as Keanu Marsh-Brown’s 15th minute red card gave Preston North End an early advantage in a 6-0 FA Cup first round win.
The Bees made a bright start to the match with KMB proving a menace to the Lilywhites’ defence but with quarter of an hour played he given a straight red card for a lunging challenge on Scott Laird.
This effectively ended the match as a contest as Preston dominated from start to finish with Tom Clarke, a Joe Garner double and a Paul Gallagher hat trick securing a comfortable win for the home side.
Barnet made two changes from the side who beat Kidderminster Harriers last time out with Edgar Davids and Curtis Weston coming in for Luisma Villa and Dani Lopez.
Surprisingly the Bees opted against fielding a recognised striker with player-manager Davids spearheading their attack. But after KMB was sent off with 15 minutes played their attacking threat became void until the introduction of Harry Crawford late on.
It took just two minutes for Preston to make their numerical advantage count as Clarke sent a superb looping header over Stack from a pinpoint Lee Holmes’ cross.
With 20 minutes played the Bees should have drawn level when midfielder Weston was played through on goal but his pace let him down and the defence were able to recover.
The Bees had seemingly weathered the storm but with ten minutes of the half remaining Preston doubled their lead when Garner got in-between David Stephens and Jack Saville to steer a header past Stack.
Preston secure their passage to the second round in the 45th minute when Gallagher was given the time and space inside the box to fire the ball home.
With 11 minutes of the second-half played the home side were reduced to ten men when Stuart Beavon was dismissed for a late challenge on Andy Yiadom.
The goals kept on coming however and with 23 minutes to play Gallagher linked well with Holmes before slotting home his second of the match.
Barnet had a chance of their own from the restart as Keiron Cadogan saw a shot deflected wide but five minutes later Gallagher completed his hat trick with a low finish.
One minute later it was 6-0 when Garner strolled through the beaten Barnet defence to score his second with ease.
Barnet’s misery was compounded in added time when Mauro Vilhete limped down the tunnel to add more pressure on an already depleted squad.
Next up for the Bees is a return to The Hive on Tuesday evening where they face Welling United before they host league leaders Cambridge United one-week today.
