Barnet 6 Gillingham 2: League 2 match report from The Hive, London

A terrible season can’t end quickly enough for Gillingham as they were thrashed again on Saturday.

A week on from a home collapse against Grimsby Town, the Gills were torn apart by play-off chasing Barnet, losing the League 2 clash 6-2.

Striker Callum Stead scored a hat-trick inside the opening 16 minutes, ending the rout with five goals to his name. The Gills had some brief joy when teenage debutant Sullivan Booth cancelled out a sixth-minute opener but the floodgates soon opened. Josh Andrews scored Gillingham’s second with the last kick.

Barnet were seeking a fourth straight win to keep alive their outside play-off chances and take it to the final weekend. The Gills offered no resistance.

The Gills started the weekend sitting 18th in the table and the visiting fans were determined to enjoy themselves despite the on-pitch woes, travelling in good numbers again for the final away game of the season and out-singing the home support.

But, once again, that loyalty wasn’t matched on the field as the Gills crumbled time and again in defence.

Just six minutes were on the clock when the Gills conceded yet another set-piece goal, a common theme for them. A corner was taken short, crossed in by Glover and Stead headed in the opener. He was to score four goals inside the opening half hour.

First-year Gills youth player Booth, 17, had been handed a surprise start by manager Gareth Ainsworth - one of five changes to the team which kicked off the week before.

Booth was making his first appearance in the Football League after impressing with the youth team this season and he was picked out by Bradley Dack with a low cross and the teenager slotted home.

Fellow youngster Harry Waldock was also back in the team for the Gills with Sam