Wes Fonguck continued his good form in front of goal for Barnet but it wasn’t enough to help the Bees secure three consecutive victories, as they slipped to a 3-1 defeat to Salford City in midweek.

The 21-year-old notched his sixth of the season on Tuesday night at the Hive, but that effort was cancelled out almost immediately by Rory Gaffney and second half strikes from Tom Walker as well as Mark Shelton secured the National League leaders all three points.

Both teams traded blows in the opening ten minutes, with Adam Rooney forcing a good stop from Mark Cousins, while Fonguck curled a lovely effort narrowly over the bar.

The Bees then started to get on the front foot, with Josh Walker’s acrobatic volley being well saved by Chris Neal, while the Salford goalkeeper had to be alert to keep out Manny Duku’s strike moments later.

Barnet’s pressure would pay off three minutes before the break, as Fonguck continued his promising start to the campaign by notching his sixth of the season when he was on hand to tap home Cheye Alexander’s cross.

But their hard work was undone on the stroke of half-time when Gaffney volleyed home from close range and the turnaround was complete barely two minutes after the re-start, as Rooney’s blocked shot fell kindly for Walker to divert past Cousins.

Danny Whitehead would come close to extending Salford’s advantage soon after and their third goal would finally arrive in the 64th minute, when Shelton smashed home Scott Wiseman’s cross.

The returning Dave Tarpey and Elliot Johnson came close to pulling one back for Barnet late on, but it proved to be too little too late for John Still’s side.

Still told the club’s website: “They scored at a terrible time in the first half and I thought we deserved to be in front and they then scored after half-time through a ridiculous mistake. Then we were up against it. They scored again but I thought we responded really well.

“We know we lack experience a little bit but I thought we battled on well. Unfortunately, I think we had two or three players that played for themselves and not for the club.”